WHILE the tabligh cluster accounts for 40% of the country’s coronavirus infections, there are also other clusters involving overseas returnees, said Director-General of Health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

“We do have small clusters among those coming back from overseas,” he told a daily press conference on the Covid-19 pandemic in Putrajaya today.

“The tabligh cluster is about 40%.”

He said 18,826 people from this cluster have been screened, with 15,380 samples taken.

Of this group, 1,407 tested positive, 10,000 (negative) and 3,773 (results pending).

Dr Noor Hisham said there are still about 3,400 who have yet to be screened.

On the enhanced movement-control order (EMCO) in Sg Lui, Hulu Langat, he said there have been 297 infections reported in the area.

Ninety are from Kg Sg Lui, and 25 of them attended a tabligh event at Sri Petaling Mosque in late February.

There are 197 cases outside the village, of whom 21 attended the tabligh programme. The other 176 are close-contact cases.

Johor’s Kluang, meanwhile, has 122 infections, with 89 in Bandar Dato Ibrahim Majid, one of the two areas in Simpang Renggam where the EMCO is in force.

“When we impose the EMCO, we will conduct case detection in these areas, so that we can trace them, isolate them and treat them,” said Dr Noor Hisham.

The Simpang Renggam areas were locked down on March 26, and the order took effect in Sg Lui three days later.

Dr Noor Hisham said the EMCO will be enforced if an area sees an exponential increase in Covid-19 infections.

“Our aim is to break the chain of infections.

“If, let’s say, a village has 40 cases, we will act within two days to curb the spread.” – April 2, 2020.