KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 23 — The Health Ministry reported today that four new clusters have been detected, two in Kuala Lumpur one in Perak and Johor.
The clusters in Kuala Lumpur are called the Bintang and Indah Mas clusters. The Perak cluster is named the Teja Kasih cluster while in Johor, the cluster is named the Kobena cluster.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the Bintang cluster had cases reported since November 17 till today. A total of 608 individuals were screened, where 95 were found positive.
All those screened came from workers at a construction site, with 94 of them being foreigners while the remainder two were locals.
In Indah Mas, the cluster involved cases in Titiwangsa, Kepong in Kuala Lumpur as well as the Petaling in Selangor.
“The index case-53,452 reported positive on November 21. As of today, a total of 41 individuals have been screened where 10 were found positive from this cluster,” Dr Noor Hisham said today.
“The Teja Kasih cluster involves the Kampar and Kinta districts in Perak. The index case-48,506 was reported positive on November 16. Till today, a total of 130 individuals have been screened, and 41 were found positive.
“The Kobena cluster in Johor Bharu involved index case-52,588 and is a Severe Acute respiratory Infections case who was found positive on November 20. Till today, 11 individuals have been screened and 13 were found positive,” he said.
The ministry also said the Teratai cluster in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur had to this day 2,524 positive cases from a total of 5,767 screenings.
A total of 1,330 samples were negative while 1,913 are still awaiting their results. From the total, 164 were foreigners while 2,360 were locals, all aged between two to 68.
He said due to the large numbers of workers involved in this cluster, the various agencies are contemplating shutting down all these factories in stages.
“Since November 17, the conditional movement control order was called at the workers’ hostel and their homes. The total number of individuals involved in this cluster is 5,900 people.
“However, from the information we have, the total number of workers at the factory is 13,000 working at 28 different factory buildings that are all different from each other.
“The Klang health office is now working with local authorities to screen all the workers and we at the ministry welcome the suggestions to shut down all these factories in stages,” said Dr Noor Hisham, adding that by doing so the ministry can conduct their activities smoothly.
