PUTRAJAYA: Over a hundred Covid-19 cases were found linked to a Kuala Lumpur residential area, following a Health Ministry screening exercise at the locality.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the cases were classified as the Jalan Rusa cluster and is based in the Cheras district.
“The community screening exercise was conducted after one resident was found to be Covid-19 positive at the end of November.
“After 1,267 people were screened, a total of 129 positive cases have been confirmed under this cluster, ” said Dr Noor Hisham in a statement yesterday.
The Jalan Rusa cluster is one of the three new clusters announced by the ministry yesterday.
The second new cluster is the Tapak Bina Pasifik cluster, which is linked to a construction site in the Lembah Pantai district, Kuala Lumpur.
“The first positive cases under this cluster were confirmed on Dec 12 after a screening exercise at the worksite.
“So far, 159 individuals have been screened and 17 cases are confirmed as Covid-19 positive under this cluster, ” said Dr Noor Hisham.
The other new cluster is the Maringkan cluster which involves the districts of Telupid and Ranau in Sabah.
The index case is a 45-year-old man who developed symptoms and was confirmed as Covid-19 positive on Dec 5 following a test.
Dr Noor Hisham said 93 close contacts have been traced and tested, and 11 positive cases under the cluster have been discovered.
Meanwhile, the Jalan Harapan prison cluster saw the highest rise in new cases out of all 193 active clusters in the country.
The cluster, which is linked to the Sungai Buloh prison in Selangor, recorded 98 new cases, therefore, bringing the cluster’s total confirmed cases to 1,050.
Yesterday, Malaysia saw more Covid-19 recoveries than new cases, as 1,297 patients were discharged while 1,220 fresh infections were confirmed.
Dr Noor Hisham said the country now has 89,133 confirmed cases and 74,030 recoveries since the start of the pandemic.
The number of people with active Covid-19 infections in Malaysia is now down slightly to 14,671.
Selangor continued to lead the states with 368 new Covid-19 cases, or 30.2% of yesterday’s total.
Dr Noor Hisham also announced three deaths due to Covid-19, pushing Malaysia’s death toll to 432.
Two of the deaths were in Sabah while another one was in Johor.
The Johor case involved a 36-year-old man who had a history of diabetes, high blood pressure and chronic kidney disease.
He died at Hospital Enche’ Besar Hajjah Khalsom in Kluang.
The other cases involved a 55-year-old Malaysian who died at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kota Kinabalu and an 81-year-old foreign man, who was declared “dead-on-arrival” at the Duchess of Kent Hospital, Sandakan.
