15 new Covid-19 cases, mostly from Pedas cluster

CORONAVIRUS | Malaysia recorded 15 new Covid-19 cases, most of which are from the Pedas cluster which is the third-largest group of infections.

Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah (above) said the new cases comprised two imported infections and 13 local transmissions.

"There was no local transmission among citizens today. All 13 were non-citizens," he told a press conference in Putrajaya today.

Noor Hisham said one was discovered following a pre-surgery screening at the Selayang Hospital while the remaining 12 were traced to the Pedas cluster involving a chicken factory in Negeri Sembilan.

The 12 comprised four from Bangladesh, three from Indonesia, two from Nepal and Myanmar respectively and one from Cambodia.

Noor Hisham said they were found through retesting during the quarantine. All staff had been quarantined since the start of the outbreak in Pedas.

The Pedas cluster, which now has a total of 316 cases, started from a Malaysian who later spread the disease to foreign workers at the factory.

Noor Hisham said the crowded living condition aggravated the spread among the foreign workers.

To date, the Pedas cluster involved 14 Malaysians and 302 non-citizens from Nepal (163), Bangladesh (67), Myanmar (35), Indonesia (31), India (4), Vietnam (1) and Cambodia (1).

As for the two imported cases, they were both Malaysians, one returning from Tunisia and another from Singapore.

A total of 4,239 swab tests were conducted by government labs yesterday. Tests data from private labs were not available. Government and private labs have a collective capacity of 36,571 tests.

Noor Hisham said the 15 new infections today put the cumulative cases at 8,587. The data is for the last 24 hours up until noon today.

He also reported that 21 Covid-19 patients were discharged from hospital, bringing the total recoveries to 8,117 people or 95.2 percent of total cases.

As of noon today, 289 patients are still under treatment, of which two are in the intensive care unit.

No new death was reported, keeping the death toll at 121 casualties or a death rate of 1.41 percent.

Noor Hisham advised Malaysians not to let their guard now even though more areas are now considered Covid-19-free zones.

He said the virus is still present within the community and surveillance activities are continuing.

Noor Hisham reiterated for Malaysians to avoid crowded places, confined spaces and close conversations which he referred to as the "3Cs", as a precaution against Covid-19.

He also reminded them to wash their hands with soap, wear a face mask in public and heed warnings from the Health Ministry, referred to as the "3Ws".

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 - Mkini