Covid-19 (March 20): 1,671 new cases, spike in Selangor, Sabah, Penang

 

COVID-19 | The Health Ministry reported 1,671 new cases of Covid-19, and four deaths today.

There was a spike of cases in Selangor, Sabah, and Penang.

Selangor reported 652 new cases today, almost double from yesterday and bucking a downtrend in new cases. The increase is partly due to a surge in cases from the Tapak Bina Persiaran Freesia (134) cluster in Kuala Langat.

Meanwhile, Sabah had 102 new cases, the first time the state reported triple digits since March 1. There was an increase in cases from close contact tracing, and other forms of screening.

Penang had 328 new cases, the highest in 16 days and the second highest on record during the third wave. This spike is mostly due to the DTI Juru immigration centre cluster, which had 206 new cases.

The number of active cases also went up by 82, the first increase since Feb 24. The previous increase before that was on Feb 10.

• Active cases: 14,442
• Patients in ICUs: 151
• Intubated: 64

Deaths

Two of the deaths today were from Selangor, and one each in Kedah and Sabah.

The youngest fatality was 47.

Details of the victims are on Malaysiakini's Covid-19 tracker page.

Clusters

The Health Ministry is currently tracking 421 active clusters including 53 that recorded new cases today.

Two clusters, DTI Juru and Tapak Bina Periaran Freesia recorded triple digit new cases.

There were four new clusters, of which details are:

Teluk Air Tawar cluster
District(s): Seberang Perai Utara and Seberang Perai Tengah, Penang
Locality/Source: Teluk Air Tawar, Butterworth, Seberang Perai Utara
Cluster category: Workplace (education centre)
First case: March 12, index case with symptoms
Total infected: 33 out of 335 screened

Perindustrian Pekan Nanas cluster
District(s): Pontian, Johor
Locality/Source: Taman Perindustrian Pekan Nanas
Cluster category: Workplace (factory)
First case: March 20, targeted screening
Total infected: 39 out of 212 screened

Tanjung Genting cluster
District(s): Meradong, Sarawak
Locality/Source: Tanjung Genting
Cluster category: Community
First case: March 13, index case with symptoms
Total infected: 22 out of 66 screened

Pulau Pisang cluster
District(s): Perak Tengah, Perak
Locality/Source: Kampung Pulau Pisang, Bota
Cluster category: Community
First case: March 7, index case with symptoms
Total infected: 15 out of 41 screened

---

- Mkini