GEORGE TOWN, July 15 — The 509 new Covid-19 cases recorded in Penang were mostly from screening of existing clusters and close contacts and screening of those with symptoms, said Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow.
He stressed that there were no new clusters detected in Penang despite the high number of new cases in the state.
“A total 241 of the cases are Malaysians while 268 are foreigners,” he said.
He said the breakdown of the cases is from close contact screenings (124 cases), screening of those with symptoms (71 cases) and workplace screenings (20 cases).
The others are from the Jalan Thean Teik Construction Site cluster (108 cases) to be followed by the Perai Lima Industry cluster (40 cases), Lorong Perusahaan Empat Cl cluster uster (37 cases), Jalan Nagasari Satu cluster (23 cases), Solok Perusahaan Satu cluster (16 cases) and Jalan Perusahaan Prai cluster (12 cases).
There were also between one to eight cases detected in 11 other existing clusters while there were 15 cases from the enhanced movement control order (EMCO) area of Taman Nagasari and nine from self screening.
Chow said a total 29,657 people were screened in the 27th week of July 4 and 10 compared to 25,793 screened between June 27 and July 3.
“The positivity rate for the 27th week is 4.09,” he said.
He said the state health department reported that the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) occupancy rate at the Penang General Hospital as at noon today is at 88.9 per cent.
He said the state will continue to monitor and conduct targeted screening of close contacts.
He urged those with symptoms or had contact with positive cases to immediately go for screening.
“Penang will continue to increase the vaccination rate in the state to ensure we achieve herd immunity and as of yesterday, a total 24,403 people in Penang have been vaccinated,” he said.
