KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 23 The Health Ministry has detected three new clusters today, concentrated in the states of Sabah, Selangor, and Negri Sembilan.

Its director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said these are the Samudera cluster in Sandakan, Sabah; the Palma cluster in Gombak, Hulu Selangor and Kepong, Kuala Lumpur; and the Jaya cluster at Sepang in Selangor, and Seremban in Negri Sembilan.

"The Samudera cluster’s index case is the 22,612nd case which was detected via screening on symptomatic individuals on October 20, who was sent to the Duchess of Kent Hospital for treatment,” he said in a statement.

Further close-contact tracing has identified seven other Covid-19 positive cases. As of 12pm today, a total of eight individuals have been screened, in which all eight were found to be positive.

"The Palma cluster’s index case is the 20,399th case first detected on October 17 during a screening on symptomatic individuals, who was sent to Sungai Buloh Hospital for treatment. Additional close-contact tracing has detected another 12 more Covid-19 positive cases.

"As of 12pm today, 101 individuals have undergone screening in which 13 tested as positive, while 88 others are still awaiting the results,” Dr Noor Hisham said.

As for the Jaya cluster, the director-general said its index case, the number which was not disclosed, was identified on October 20 during a screening on symptomatic individuals, and similarly sent to Sungai Buloh Hospital for treatment.

"Close-contact tracing has also revealed eight more Covid-19 positive cases. As of 12pm today, 48 individuals have been screened, with nine positive cases and 39 others still awaiting the results,” he said.

Today saw 710 new cases reported to the ministry’s Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre, with 467 recoveries and 10 deaths.