PUTRAJAYA: The Health Ministry detected 19 new Covid-19 clusters on Tuesday (Feb 16), bringing the total number of active clusters nationwide up to 499.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said 14 of the new clusters are infections discovered at workplaces.
Most of the workplace clusters are those found from targeted screening exercises on workers.
One of the new clusters with a high number of positive cases is the "Tapak Bina Jalan Segambut cluster" which is linked to a construction site in Kuala Lumpur.
Dr Noor Hisham said 173 positive cases were found out of 483 individuals who underwent the targeted screening exercise.
Four clusters are classified as community outbreaks while one is categorised as a high-risk group cluster.
The high-risk group cluster, named the "Jalan Geronggang cluster", involves senior citizens at a nursing home in Sibu, Sarawak.
Dr Noor Hisham said 41 individuals had to undergo testing after the cluster’s index case, a 77-year-old woman, tested positive on Feb 11.
“All the 41 individuals tested under the cluster were found to be positive, ” said Dr Noor Hisham.
A community cluster in Kapit, Sarawak was found to be linked to a funeral.
Dr Noor Hisham said the index case, a 48-year-old man, had conducted a self-Covid-19 screening and tested positive on Feb 14.
A total of 86 individuals had to be tested and 14 people under the cluster tested positive for Covid-19.
Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham said nine clusters have officially been declared as ended, after no new cases have been recorded in the past 28 days.
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