MORE THAN than 5,000 cases of Covid-19 were linked to workplace clusters, said director-general of health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

He said of the 158 clusters currently active, 65, including two of the four detected today, were linked to the workplace.

Dr Noor Hisham said 5,681 people who tested positive were infected at their place of work and of this number,  2,312 were foreigners.

He said the high rate of infection at work was mostly due to workers being crowded into small spaces.

“For foreign workers, they live in small rooms or overcrowded units, making it easier for the virus to spread.

“For locals, we have had cases where infection occurred  happened because they attended gatherings such as weddings or had spent too much time in public spaces.

“There was an incident involving health officers who were infected after one of their colleagues attended a wedding.”

He thanked employers for taking the proactive measure of getting their workers screened for infection.

Four new clusters were detected while three ended today.

Dr Noor Hisham said two of the new clusters were in Sabah, and one each in Sarawak and Malacca.

The Sabah clusters are Bonggaya and Jambatan B, both in Sandakan.

“The index case for Bonggaya is a patient who was found positive after a community screening and sent to the Duchess of Kent Hospital. Contact tracing found 45 others who were infected.

“Until November 13, 243 people have been tested and 46 were found positive and 123 negative; 74 others are waiting for the results.

“For Jambatan B, the index case was a patient who tested positive on October 17. He infected 52 others.

“To date, 201 people have been screened with 52 turning out positive and 118 negative. Another 30 are waiting for their test results.

As for the cluster in Sarawak, Dr Noor Hisham said 14 were infected.

Ten tested positive in the cluster in Malacca.

Meanwhile, the three clusters that have been resolved are Selasih (Selangor and Negri Sembilan), Bah Pengkalan (Perak) and Bah Pasir (Putrajaya and Negri Sembilan). – November 13, 2020.