Covid-19: New cluster identified in Kota Belud, Sabah (updated)

PUTRAJAYA: One new Covid-19 cluster has been identified in Kota Belud, Sabah, says Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

He said the index case of the Kertang cluster is a close contact that tested positive on Oct 14 and has been admitted to the quarantine and treatment centre at PPR Taman Seri Bayu in Kota Belud.

“From the close contact screenings, another 19 positive cases have been identified.

"As of noon on Tuesday (Oct 20), a total of 216 people had been screened with 21 tested positive, with the rest negative, ” he said.

So far, he said there are 86 active clusters in the country.

The cluster with the biggest increase on Tuesday is the Kepayan Prison cluster in Sabah which has 213 new cases, bringing the total to 415.

The Tembok cluster which is centred on the Alor Setar Prison in Kedah has four new cases.

It is currently the biggest active cluster with 1,576 cumulative cases.

Dr Noor Hisham also announced that two clusters had been declared closed, after not recording new cases for 28 days straight.

The closed clusters are the Setapak cluster in Kuala Lumpur, which had three cases and the Selamat cluster in Sabah, which recorded 25 cases.

Both did not record any deaths.

Sabah makes up the bulk of the new cases with 673 new infections reported, followed by 132 cases in Selangor, Kedah (17), Perak (9), Penang (8), Kuala Lumpur (7), six each in Negri Sembilan and Labuan and a case respectively in Johor, Kelantan and Putrajaya.

Dr Noor Hisham also said that Selangor has seen an increase in positive cases in the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

With the addition of 132 new cases on Tuesday, he said that makes the total positive cases in Selangor at 3,489 cases.

Selangor had recorded 107 cases on Monday (Oct 19) and 77 on Sunday (Oct 18).

“For this third wave, Selangor has seen a spike in cases since September following the return of visitors to Sabah.

“The first cluster reported in Selangor in the third wave is the Jalan Apas cluster on Sept 28, which involved a family that returned from Sabah.

“Since Oct 2, there is an increase in local transmission cases in Selangor and it has been consistent until now,” he said.

Since the first cluster has been recorded, Dr Noor Hisham said a total of 26 active clusters have been identified, including the latest Hentian cluster.

“Eighteen (69.2%) of the active clusters involve local transmissions, while eight (30.8%) clusters were Sabah returnees.

“Nine (34.6%) clusters involve cases that are closely related to workplace transmission, while one cluster (3.8%) involves public shopping places,” he added.

Dr Noor Hisham also said that the high density of residents and the high travelling frequency involving residents and visitors in the state contributes to the the situation in Selangor.