CORONAVIRUS | The number of Covid-19 positive cases in Hulu Langat district have increased to a total of 271 as of noon today, with 90 of the cases recorded coming from a tahfiz school in Sungai Lui.
Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the Health Ministry (MOH) believed that the chain of infection in the district could also be linked to the Sri Petaling gathering last month.
"If we look at the statistics, in the whole Hulu Langat district there are a total of 271 cases. And in Madrasah Nabawiyyah, Batu 24 Sungai Lui, there are 90 cases so far.
"Before this, there were 71 cases. Since we went in two days ago, we found the number of cases has increased to 90," he told a press conference in Putrajaya.
According to Noor Hisham, they suspected that there were villagers from the district who had attended the gathering at Sri Petaling Mosque in late February, and it had spread to the district when they returned to the area.
"The cluster is most probably linked to the tabligh gathering cluster.
"So if we see in this one month, the tabligh cluster had spread up to five generations (of infection).
"Maybe among the villagers in Hulu Langat or Kampung Sungai Lui, there were those who were positive," he said.
Yesterday, the government announced that seven villages in Sungai Lui would be under the enhanced movement control order (Emco) starting midnight, after the MOH detected a high number of new cases there.
The area is the second Emco to be enforced after the two villages in Simpang Renggam, within the Kluang district, on March 26.
Two out of the seven villages are Orang Asli settlements.
According to Senior Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who is in charge of security, under the order all residents and visitors already in the area won't be allowed to leave. They must remain in their houses.
He added that all entrances to the area will be shut and outsiders won't be allowed in during the Emco period.
Sri Petaling gathering cluster make up nearly 80 pct of cases
So far, according to Noor Hisham, the MOH has conducted health checks on 18,271 people linked to the Sri Petaling gathering cluster.
From the number, 14,111 of them have had their samples taken and tested for Covid-19, of which 1,290 were found positive.
This means the cluster continues to be the largest, making up nearly 80 percent of the total 2,626 positive cases recorded so far.
According to Noor Hisham, the ministry now has a total of 4,500 patients in isolation to prevent the spread of the virus. Of this number, 2,100 came from the tabligh cluster.
Asked on the progress of MOH's works to trace and test Rohingya refugees for Covid-19, Noor Hisham said they are working closely with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other non-government humanitarian bodies.
He said the health authority believes that some in the community had attended the Sri Petaling gathering.
"We encourage them to come forward to be screened.
"If they are positive, then we will isolate them," he said.
Meanwhile, asked if the ministry has identified other areas that might need to be put under Emco, Noor Hisham said they will impose Emco if an area shows a spike in new cases.
"If there is a sudden spike at a certain area, we will have to take drastic action so that the virus won't spread in the community," he said.
On the two villages in Simpang Renggam under Emco, he said currently their team there have been able to conduct up to 300 tests a day.
"We hope that within 14 days, we will be able to lower the number of cases there."
He said authorities are conducting house-to-house tests at the villages, besides disinfection activities. - Mkini
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