Health DG hopes Kelantan residents will stay home

PUTRAJAYA: Residents in Kelantan have been advised to stay home over the next two weeks due to the rapid rise in Covid-19 cases.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah (pic), who made the call, said the number of cases in the state had risen from just eight on Nov 3 to 73 on Thursday.

“I hope that in the two weeks, people in Kelantan will stay home. If you have to go out, make sure you follow the SOP, ” he said at his daily press briefing yesterday.

Dr Noor Hisham said new cases in Kelantan were traced to Covid-19 red zones, including in the Klang Valley.

“There are individuals who travelled to Kelantan from red zones and brought the virus and spread it to their contacts and family members.

“The cases are found to come from clusters based in the Klang Valley and Negri Sembilan, such as the Cergas, Kaya and Ikhtisas clusters, ” he said.

Dr Noor Hisham said the Mengketil cluster was a cause for concern, as the cluster raked up 41 cases in just five days.

“The cases in the Mengketil cluster were first detected in Machang district, but it has since spread to Kota Baru, Tanah Merah, Pasir Mas and Kuala Krai.

“The infection has even made its way to Besut in Terengganu. The cluster has shown a high level of infectivity and there is a huge risk that the spread can go out of control if the conditional MCO is not implemented, ” he added.

The latest situation in Kelantan has led the government to enforce the conditional movement control order there from Nov 21 to Dec 6.

Meanwhile, the country recorded 958 new Covid-19 infections yesterday, with Sabah having the highest number with 512.

This was followed by Selangor and Negri Sembilan, each having 153 cases. There were three fatalities, taking the national death toll to 329.

Dr Noor Hisham said 956 patients were discharged, with recoveries now at 39,088.

Active cases are at 13,221. Cumulatively, the country’s Covid-19 cases have reached 52,638

He said the Health Ministry detected five new infection clusters -- the Kasir cluster (Sabah), the Sri Jujur cluster (Selangor), the OAD cluster (Negri Sembilan), the Enggor cluster (Perak) and the Makmur cluster (Johor).

To date, there are 167 active clusters in the country.