Fourth Covid-19 cluster detected in Sabah

A new Covid-19 cluster was detected in Semporna, Sabah on Monday, making it the fourth in the state after the Benteng LD, Pulau and Laut clusters.

Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the index case for the new Selamat cluster was case 9969, a 32-year-old Malaysian who tested positive for the virus on Sept 14 while undergoing screening at the Tawau hospital for premature labour.

“Through close contact screening and active case detection, another positive case was detected involving the medical officer who treated the index case,” he said in a statement on Covid-19 developments yesterday.

To date, 118 individuals from this cluster have been screened, two of whom tested positive for Covid-19. The rest are awaiting their results.

Noor Hisham said the source of infection is being investigated, and transmission prevention activity is ongoing.

“Disinfection and cleaning have been carried out in the identified areas,” he added.

On the Benteng LD cluster, he said two new cases were reported, bringing the total number of positive cases from this cluster to 474.

To date, 7,670 individuals from this cluster in Lahad Datu and Tawau have been screened.

As for the Sungai cluster, he said six new positive cases were detected, bringing the total to 65.

“A total of 22,317 individuals were screened from this cluster with 22,153 of them screened in Kedah, 136 in Penang and 28 more in Perlis. The total includes 1,148 health workers, of whom 26 tested positive for Covid-19,” he said.

He urged the people to continue observing the SOPs while attending gatherings and when in public places.