Sabah Travel Sparks Selangor Cluster With Eight Covid-19 Cases


Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah. Picture from Facebook @kementeriankesihatanmalaysia.

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 28 — Active Covid-19 cases in hospitals in Malaysia reached 1,011 today, as health authorities reported 115 new infections today and a fresh cluster in Selangor involving Sabah travel.

According to the Ministry of Health (MOH), the new cluster in Selangor, dubbed Jalan Apas cluster, has reported eight positive coronavirus cases. The index cases in the cluster, a married Malaysian couple (Patient 10,782 and Patient 10,783), previously visited Tawau and Semporna in Sabah from September 13 to 16.

They started experiencing fever, cough, and flu on September 18 and later sought treatment at a medical centre on September 19. They were referred to Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Klang Hospital on September 24 and tested positive for Covid-19 on September 26, before they were admitted to Sungai Buloh Hospital.

Close contact tracing yielded six new Covid-19 cases, besides the infected couple, totalling eight cases in the Jalan Apas cluster.

The 115 new Covid-19 cases reported today comprised 112 local transmissions and three imported cases.

The new cases included 98 reported in Sabah, followed by 10 cases in Selangor and one each in Kedah, Melaka, Terengganu, and Labuan. Eleven cases involved previous travel history to Sabah, including six in the Jalan Apas Cluster, an additional four in Selangor who were screened upon return from Sabah, and the Terengganu case who was also screened upon return from the state.

Mandatory testing was implemented since yesterday at airports for all arrivals from Sabah after the state election was held on September 26. However, unlike returnees from abroad who are subjected to 14-day quarantine at designated centres, people returning from Sabah will be released from home quarantine if they test negative for Covid-19.

RT-PCR test results usually come out in a few days. The incubation period for Covid-19 is 14 days; people can still infect others even before they display symptoms of the viral disease.

Sabah continued to rack up sporadic community cases whose sources of transmission were unknown, comprising eight from symptomatic screenings involving Malaysians and one Malaysian from a health worker screening. A Malaysian close contact of Patient 11,022 was also found positive.

Besides that, Sabah reported 46 new Covid-19 cases in the Bangau-Bangau cluster (all Malaysians), 39 new cases in the Benteng LD cluster (25 Malaysians and 14 foreign nationals), two in the Pulau cluster (both Malaysians), as well as one in the Buang Sayang cluster (Malaysian).

The new Kedah case reported today was part of the Sungai cluster that has racked up 99 positive cases so far, comprising 98 in Kedah and one in Perlis. The one new case in Melaka reported today came from a pre-surgery screening, while the Labuan case was a close contact of Patient 10,218.

So far, a total of 11,034 people have been infected by the coronavirus in the country.

However Malaysia recorded 89.62 per cent of Covid-19 recovery rate. This means that, of the total cases, 9,889 patients have been discharged so far, including 54 individuals today.

A total of 1,011 Covid-19 patients are still receiving treatment in hospitals with eight patients in intensive care units, including five under ventilator support. The Covid-19 death toll remains at 134, with no new fatalities reported today.

Authorities have placed four districts in the east coast of Sabah — Lahad Datu, Tawau, Kunak, and Semporna — under an administrative Targeted Enhanced Movement Control Order (TEMCO) from tomorrow until October 12.

Source: Code Blue