MALAYSIA will target locations and high-risk groups in tackling Covid-19, said Director-General of Health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

“If the location has a high number of new cases, we do testing for all those there,” he said at a daily Covid-19 briefing in Putrajaya today.

He said the ministry targeted several groups to contain the spread of Covid-19 in Malaysia.

“The tabligh group from Sri Petaling was one. Our next target is tahfiz schools,” said Dr Noor Hisham.

He said 3,892 out of 11,045 tahfiz students in the country have been tested.

“Of this, 277 of them have tested positive and we will continue screening this group,” he added.

He said Malaysia has a positive rate of about 5%.

“We have tested around 105,000 cases and the result is 5,305 positives.”

In the daily update, Dr Noor Hisham said 26,199 samples from 28,201 people related to the tabligh related cluster have been taken.

The number of positive cases so far are 1,946. 

Malaysia saw the lowest number of positive cases today with just 54 since the start of the movement control order on March 18. The total number of positive cases are 2,115 after 3,102 were discharged with 88 deaths.

Most of the country’s Covid-19 cluster and places under enhanced movement control order (EMCO) today did not record any increase in cases, such as Bandar Baru Ibrahim Majid in Johor, Sungai Lui in Selangor, Menara Plaza City One, Malayan Mansion, Selangor Mansion, and the Masjid India area

However, the “church cluster” in Sarawak recorded 9 new cases; a cluster at a factory in Pasir Gudang, Johor; 5, the Sulawesi tabligh cluster in Sabah; 2, the Bali cluster in Kuantan; 1, and a group involving engineers in Kuantan; 1.

The new cases raise the number of infections in the Sarawak church cluster to 132, of which 112 are active cases with two in ICU, while 17 have recovered and three have died.

The Pasir Gudang factory cluster now has 15 infections.

Noor Hisham also said a new cluster had emerged involving 31 healthcare workers across three hospitals in Sabah. – April 18, 2020.