Nearly 400,000 sporadic Covid cases since Jan 1, says Noor Hisham

A total of 398,846 Covid-19 infections out of the 578,105 reported in the country from Jan 1 to June 19 this year were sporadic cases, health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said today.

The states with the highest number of sporadic infections were Selangor with 151,725 cases, followed by Kuala Lumpur (44,517) and Sarawak (40,889), he said.

Despite the movement control order (MCO) 3.0 announced on May 12 which curbed any further increase of new clusters in the 24th epidemiological week (June 13-19), sporadic cases have yet to see a significant drop, Noor Hisham said.

“Sporadic cases mean cases that are detected in the community and cannot be linked to any existing cluster. These sporadic cases are detected through screening in the workplace and the community, or from the screening of symptomatic cases.

“What is more worrying is that most of the sporadic cases are asymptomatic but can still infect anyone around them who does not properly adhere SOPs,” he said in a statement today.

Noor Hisham said the Klang Valley, which covers Kuala Lumpur and its outskirts as well as towns and cities in Selangor, recorded the highest number of sporadic cases in Malaysia during the 24th epidemiological eeek.

The three districts with the highest number of sporadic infections were Petaling with 3,905 cases, followed by Hulu Langat (2,783 cases) and Klang (2,482 cases).

“The implication of this is that the Klang Valley area, which has a high population density, is exposed to the danger of having many sporadic cases in the community and most of the Covid-19 cases have no symptoms.

“In other words, it is difficult to know who has Covid-19 among us. Therefore, it is very important for everyone to take note of this matter and protect themselves and their families from the dangers of Covid-19,” he said.

He urged the community to keep complying with the SOPs and to adopt self-imposed public health measures to address the increase in sporadic and asymptomatic Covid-19 cases, especially in crowded and high-risk areas.