Covid-19: Rise in Peninsula cases linked to returnees from Sabah

PUTRAJAYA: The rise in Covid-19 cases in Peninsular Malaysia has been attributed to individuals with a history of travel to Sabah, says the Health Ministry.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said since Sept 20, a total of 63 cases involved those who had just returned from Sabah.

“Today (Sept 29), there are 17 cases alone involving those with a travel history to Sabah, making it a total of 63 cases since Sept 20, ” said Dr Noor Hisham at a press conference.

Nine of those 17 cases were detected in Selangor, while Kedah, Perak, Melaka, Kelantan, Perlis, Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur each had one case.

Two Covid-19 clusters – the Jalan Apas cluster in Klang, Selangor and the new Bakawali cluster in Johor – also involved people returning from Sabah.

The Bakawali cluster involved a husband and wife who travelled to Semporna, Sabah from Sept 13-18.

“On Sept 24, both cases showed symptoms of cough, flu and fever.

"They tested positive for Covid-19 on Sept 26 and were admitted to Hospital Enche Besar Hajjah Kalsom in Johor.

“A screening of close contacts found two more positive cases under this cluster, ” said Dr Noor Hisham.

Similarly, the Jalan Apas cluster announced on Monday also involved a husband-and-wife pair who travelled to Tawau and Semporna from Sept 13-16.

The cluster currently has nine positive cases.

Sabah recorded 73 of the country’s 101 new infections on Tuesday.

The Bangau-Bangau cluster in Semporna saw 51 new cases, bringing its total to 276.

The country’s number of active cases has now gone up to 1,062.