MALAYSIA has reported 25 new Covid-19 cases, 16 of which are local transmissions, in the past 24 hours, said director-general of health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

Twelve out of the 16 cases are from the Sivagangga cluster, which encompasses Kedah, Perlis, and Penang.

Noor Hisham yesterday warned that the cluster, which started in Kedah, could be linked to a genome of Covid-19 identified as a super-spreader in Egypt and Pakistan.

The cluster, traced back to the owner of a nasi kandar eatery in Jitra, had been spreading “very quickly” compared to other infection clusters in the country.

To date, as many as 43 cases have been detected from this cluster, said Noor Hisham.

Meanwhile, 15 patients have recovered, with no new deaths reported in the past 24 hours. 

Nine imported cases were reported today, involving eight Malaysians and one foreigner. 

The imported cases are from the Philippines (four), and one each from the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Djibouti, Australia and Yemen.

Out of the 16 local cases, one patient is an undocumented migrant who was identified during a Covid-19 screening at Johor’s immigration detention centre. 

As of yesterday, 3,246 people from the Sivagangga cluster have been screened, with 2,320 testing negative and 883 still awaiting results.

Authorities have identified 1,884 close contacts in Perlis and Penang that will be sampled following today’s positive case announcement. 

At this juncture, the cluster is linked to 31 cases in Kedah, 11 in Perlis, and one case in Penang. 

The 10 new cases reported in Perlis today are family members of case 9002, which had been reported in the state on Tuesday. 

All 11 cases are connected to the Sivagangga cluster. 

There are currently two virus patients in the intensive care unit, with one patient requiring respiratory support. 

The total number of cases is now 9,063, with 210 active cases and 8,728 recoveries. – August 7, 2020.