Restaurant owner who sparked Sivagangga cluster jailed 5 months, fined

The owner of the nasi kandar restaurant in Jitra, Kedah who led to the Sivagangga Covid-19 cluster has been jailed five months and fined RM12,000.

The man is believed to be the index case of the Sivagangga cluster, named as such as he had returned from Sivagangga, India, after which he violated a home quarantine order.

It has since emerged as one of the largest active clusters in the country with 45 active cases as of noon yesterday, with cases spanning six districts in Kedah, Perlis and Penang.

Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah had said that the infection linked to this cluster spread "very quickly" compared to other infection clusters in the country.

He cited concern this could be linked to a genome of Covid-19 which had been identified as a superspreader in Egypt and Pakistan.

[More to follow] - Mkini