New cluster detected in Kedah, nationwide active cases rise to 219

COVID-19 | A new Covid-19 cluster has been detected in Kedah while the number of active cases in the country has risen to 219.

There were 26 new cases today of which 23 were local infections involving 20 Malaysians.

Twelve of the cases were from the Tawar cluster including 10 in Kedah and two in Penang bringing the total number of patients in this cluster to 33.

Meanwhile, there was one new case in the Muda cluster in Kedah, bringing its total number of cases to three. A total of 103 close contacts in this cluster are still awaiting their test results.

Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a statement that the new cluster detected today has been named the "Sala cluster" which currently has four cases in total of which three are positive.

The Sala cluster is limited to one family at this moment with the index case detected on Aug 13.

Active case detection is ongoing and 76 close contacts are awaiting their test results. The source of infection is still being determined.

Meanwhile, there were two cases involving Malaysians in Kuala Lumpur, one in Perak and one in Perlis detected during pre-surgery screening.

Three non-citizen cases were also detected today, two of them undocumented migrants in detention in Negeri Sembilan and one through workplace detection in Kuala Lumpur.

Of the current active cases, six are in intensive care with one requiring ventilator support.

There were no new deaths reported while a total of three recoveries were registered today. - Mkini