Covid-19: 'Andromeda cluster' among 12 new clusters recorded Wednesday (March 17)

PUTRAJAYA: Three factory clusters in Selangor are among the contributors to the state's slight increase in cases on Wednesday (March 17).

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said one of the outbreaks, named the 'Subang Dua' cluster, had 153 confirmed cases since March 16.

"The positive cases in this cluster were uncovered from a targeted screening exercise conducted on workers of a factory located at Jalan Subang 2 in Taman Perindustrian Subang.

"So far, 602 individuals have been tested and 153 are confirmed as Covid-19 positive," said Dr Noor Hisham in his daily Covid-19 press statement.

The Jalan Lada Sulah cluster in Shah Alam and the Meranti Jaya cluster in Puchong were also detected from targeted screening conducted on factory workers.

The former has 18 confirmed cases while the latter has eight so far.

Selangor reported 499 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, which is 40.9% of the country's 1,219 infections.

There were 12 new clusters classified by the Health Ministry Wdnesday, with eight of them linked to workplaces.

Another two clusters in Johor and Sabah have been categorised as community outbreaks, while one other is linked to a detention centre in Negri Sembilan.

Dr Noor Hisham said the Tembok Muhasabah cluster was uncovered from a targeted screening on detainees.

"A screening exercise conducted on detainees at a detention centre in Jalan Kuala Klawang in Jelebu found 49 confirmed cases.

"So far, 225 individuals have been screened," he said.

One import cluster was detected among the crew of a Singaporean dredger which was based in Muar, Johor.

Named the Andromeda cluster, about 44 individuals had to undergo screening after one crewmember developed symptoms and tested positive on March 15.

So far, six cases under the cluster have been confirmed.

Dr Noor Hisham said the country now has 429 active clusters.