THE Health Ministry identified fourteen Covid-19 clusters today, taking the number of active clusters in the country to 401, said Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

The Health Director-General said that of the 14 clusters, nine were workplace related, three were high-risk groups and two community based.

A total of 780 cases were recorded from the 14 clusters, and of these, 642 were from workplace clusters which today were mostly construction sites, factories and workers’ hostels. 

The Jalan Puchong construction site cluster, detected in Lembah Pantai, Kuala Lumpur, recorded the highest number of cases among the new clusters reported, with 332 testing positive for Covid-19 from 553 screened.

The second workplace cluster is the Jalan Lagoon construction site in Petaling, Selangor. To date, from 880 people screened, 76 tested positive for the virus.

The third workplace related cluster is Puchong Industry, detected at a factory in Petaling district, Selangor. A total of 200 individuals were screened here and 44 reported Covid-19 positive.

The Kg Parit Masjid cluster, with cases in Hulu Langat and Petaling district in Selangor, is the next workplace cluster involving a factory workers’ hostel. A total of 183 were screened in this cluster and the results of 44 returned positive.

The Ladang Sg Pin workplace cluster was traced in the Kinabatangan district of Sabah, and also involves a factory. All 36 individuals screened so far tested positive for Covid-19.

Another factory workers’ cluster called Persiaran Raya was detected in in Manjung, Perak. A total of 95 people were screened here, of which 18 were Covid-19 positive.

The seventh workplace cluster was also reported in Perak, in the district of Kinta. It involves factory workers in the Pengkalan Industrial area, and is named Lapangan Siber based on the locality of their residence. As of today, 50 people had undergone screenings, of which 21 tested positive.

Cluster Nilam Tiga was identified in the Seremban district, Negeri Sembilan and this cluster involves factory workers in Bandar Utama Nilai. To date, 63 from 237 screened tested positive for Covid-19.

The final workplace cluster; Bintang Daily, was reported in Merendong, Sarawak. The cluster was named after the index case’s workplace and residence locality.

A total of 46 were screened here and the results of eight were positive for Covid-19.

The three high-risk clusters reported today are Sg Purun, Jalan Empat and Jalan Tan.

The Sg Purun cluster spreads over the districts of Hulu Langat and Petaling in Selangor. This cluster involves staff and residence of a care centre in Semenyih.

As of today, 44 people were screened for Covid-19 and 27 reported positive for the virus.

The next high-risk cluster, Jalan Empat, was identified in the Titiwangsa district, Kuala Lumpur and involves staff at a medical centre in Wangsa Maju. Eighty-nine people were screened in this cluster and thus far, 29 positive cases were traced.

The Jalan Tan cluster is another high-risk cluster reported today and involves an old folk’s home in Taman Tan Yew Lai, Lembah Pantai. To date, a total of 31 people were screened here and 17 tested positive for Covid-19.

The Kg Samin cluster is a community cluster detected in the districts of Sipitang, Kota Belud and Tuaran district in Sabah.

Cases in this cluster have a history of attending an event at Kampung Samin, Sipitang. As of today, from 121 individuals screened, 33 were Covid-19 positive.

The final cluster reported today is Padas Damit, another community-based cluster reported in the district of Beaufort, Sabah.

Cases in this cluster too have a history of attending an event in Kampung Shahbandar.

From 160 screened here, 32 tested positive for the virus.

The 14 new clusters today bring the total number of clusters in the country to 831.

Seventy-three active clusters are still reporting new cases.

Besides today’s new Jalan Puchong construction site cluster, other clusters reporting a high number of cases are Jalan Chulan construction site cluster (85 cases) and Tembok Taiping (81 cases).

A total of five clusters ended today, bringing the total number of clusters to closure to 430. – February 1, 2021.