Covid-19: Eight new clusters, six of which linked to workplaces

PUTRAJAYA: The Health Ministry has detected eight new Covid-19 infection clusters, of which six are linked to workplaces nationwide.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the total number of active clusters in the country is now 206.

One of the new clusters, named the Bukit Naga cluster, was detected from a targeted screening conducted at a construction site in Klang, Selangor.

"The positive cases under this cluster were first detected on Dec 13. So far, 190 individuals have been screened and 58 positive cases have been found," said Dr Noor Hisham in a statement on Tuesday (Dec 22).

The Tapak Bina Residen cluster is linked to a construction site in Lembah Pantai in Kuala Lumpur.

The ministry found 294 people under this cluster were infected with Covid-19 after 640 people had undergone a targeted screening exercise.

There were two clusters found in the Kepong districts of Kuala Lumpur, which are also linked to targeted screening activities at construction sites.

The Tapak Bina Kasih cluster has 43 positive cases so far, while the Tapak Bina Sinar View cluster has 32 cases.

In Johor, the Tampoi Jaya cluster, linked to a workplace, was linked to 32 positive cases in the Johor Baru district.

In Perak, the workplace-related Rapat cluster has seven positive cases so far.

Meanwhile, another new cluster, the Pasar Baru cluster, was linked with 309 cases in Selangor.

The cluster originated from its index case, a 50-year-old woman in Klang, who developed symptoms and tested positive for Covid-19 on Dec 15.

Subsequent screening on 2,001 individuals found 309 positive cases under this cluster alone.

In Sabah, a targeted community screening exercise has managed to find 47 positive cases, lumped under a new cluster named the Paginatan cluster.

The cases have been found spread across the districts of Ranau, Papar and Kota Belud.