Covid-19: 17 new clusters, four linked to education sector

PUTRAJAYA: The Health Ministry has detected 17 new Covid-19 clusters, taking the total number of active ones to 390.

In his daily Covid-19 updates on Friday (April 30), Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah (pic) said four of the new clusters are linked to the education sector, including two schools.

One of the education sector clusters is an outbreak linked to an education centre in Dataran Sentral, Seremban, in which 96 positive cases were detected.

“The index case of the Jalan Dataran cluster tested positive on April 28, after developing symptoms.

“The cluster involves staff and students of the education centre in Jalan Dataran Sentral 3.

“To date, 151 individuals were screened and 96 tested positive, ” said Dr Noor Hisham.

Another education cluster has been named the Jalan Wau cluster, is an outbreak at a school at Section 11 in Shah Alam, where 37 positive cases have been confirmed.

Dr Noor Hisham said 365 staff members and students have been screened so far.

“The index case of this cluster developed symptoms and later tested positive on April 13, ” he said.

The Jalan Agama cluster involves an education centre in Lutong, Sarawak, and 38 cases have been detected among students and staff members of the centre.

The Chersonese cluster in Perak is linked to a school located in Ladang Chersonese, Kuala Krau.

Screening on 212 students and staff members of the school has led the discovery of 17 positive cases.

On the other new clusters, Dr Noor Hisham said five were community outbreaks and another five were workplace outbreaks.

One new cluster is linked to an old folks home in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, another involves a detention centre in Johor Baru, while the other is linked to a religious event in Kluang, Johor.