THERE have been no new coronavirus (Covid-19) clusters since the movement-control order (MCO) was implemented on March 18, said director-general of health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

“So far, we have no new clusters, but nonetheless we have the enhanced MCO in three areas where we do active case detection.

“There, our team and the police ensure that the high risk groups are tested,” he said in his daily press briefing in Putrajaya today.

In Kluang, where the enhanced MCO is in place, Dr Noor Hisham said there were 170 positive Covid-19 cases among the population of 3,755 people. This was an increase of 23 cases from the previous day.

He said the ministry found more cases when they did active case detection.

Noor Hisham said the higher or similar number of positive Covid-19 cases was due to the ministry’s approach of active case detection, or testing high risk and targeted groups within a community.

Noor Hisham added, so far, the biggest cluster of cases came from the Sri Petaling tabligh group, which accounts for 42.8% of cases, followed by the church cluster in Kuching and the wedding in Bandar Baru Bangi.

He said that all the big clusters came from mass gatherings.

The three-day church conference in Kuching last month provided 83 positive cases, from which two people died, while five are still listed as critical in intensive care units (ICU).

The Bandar Baru Bangi wedding also created five generations of cases.

“As of April 6, there were 88 positive cases where one is now in ICU,” said Noor Hisham, adding elsewhere there were only small clusters, such as Hospital Teluk Intan, where about 44 healthcare workers were infected.

“We hope that we have enough time to take action and go for the clusters. Otherwise, you can get up to five generations of infections from one index case.” – April 6, 2020.