Covid-19: Four new clusters identified, three linked to workplaces

PETALING JAYA: Four new Covid-19 clusters have been identified, with three linked to workplaces, says the Health Ministry.

Its director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the other is a community-related cluster.

The three work clusters are Lagoon Selatan in Selangor, Jalan Firma Dua in Johor, Jalan Haji Malek in Melaka, while the community cluster is in Bukit Tunggal, Sarawak.

In the Lagoon Selatan cluster, workers of a cleaning company located at Jalan Lagoon Selatan in Bandar Sunway, Subang Jaya were screened since Feb 27.

As of March 6, some 34 individuals were screened, with 12 testing positive.

In the Firma Dua cluster, the index case for the cluster was tested positive for Covid-19 on March 4.

The cluster involves factory workers at Jalan Firma 2/1, Kawasan Perindustrian Tebrau 1 in Johor.

As of March 6, a total of 139 individuals were screened, with 28 testing positive.

The third cluster at Jalan Haji Malek in Jasin, Melaka, involves a group of workers at a supermarket in Jalan Haji Malek, Taman Kelubi, Jasin.

As of March 6, a total of 23 individuals were screened and 11 came back as positive for this cluster.

For the community cluster in Bukit Tunggal in Julau, Sarawak, the index case tested positive on Feb 28 and as of March 6, a total of 139 individuals were screened. From this, 29 tested positive in this cluster.

Dr Noor Hisham said the total number of clusters stand at 1,191 while 713 clusters have ended.

The number of active clusters stands at 478.

“The clusters with the highest increase in cases today (March 6) are the Jalan Zamrud construction cluster with 64 cases reported, Jalan Muhibbah cluster (31 cases), and Jalan Pelabuhan cluster (31 cases), ” said Dr Noor Hisham in a statement on Saturday (March 6).

Dr Noor Hisham said 54 cases reported were also related to prison clusters.

On Saturday (March 6), Malaysia recorded 1,680 new Covid-19 cases, bringing the cumulative cases to 311,777.

The country also recorded 2,548 recoveries, which means 289,452 have recovered from the disease nationwide.

In the same 24-hour period, there were seven fatalities, bringing the death toll to 1,166.

Those who succumbed to the virus were Malaysians from Selangor and Sarawak (three deaths in each state) and one fatality in Sabah.

There are 172 patients in intensive care units, with 84 requiring ventilators.

Selangor once again recorded the highest number of daily infections with 826 cases, or 49.2% of the total cases reported.

From the 826, some 737 were linked to clusters and close screening contacts.

This is followed by Sarawak with 221 cases, and Johor (139 cases).