KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 22 ― Eight new Covid-19 clusters have been detected nationwide today by the Ministry of Health, bringing Malaysia’s total to 459 clusters since the virus broke out here.

Five of them are spread out in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor while the ministry said Johor, Perak and Sabah each has one new cluster.

The first cluster, dubbed the Pasar Baru cluster, has 309 cases so far out of 2,001 people screened. Its index patient was reported as Covid-19 positive on December 15, with the infection having since spread to Klang and Kuala Langat in Selangor.

The remaining four clusters involve construction workers.

The second cluster is called the Bukit Naga cluster in the Klang Valley; 190 individuals were screened and 58 were found positive. The index case was found positive on December 13 during a workplace screening.

The third cluster, Residen Construction Site cluster, is in Lembah Pantai in Kuala Lumpur. Of 640 individuals screened, 294 returned positive.

The fourth cluster is dubbed the Kasih construction site cluster in Kepong, Kuala Lumpur. From 392 screenings, 43 were found positive.

The fifth cluster dubbed the Sinar View construction site cluster in Kepong as well found 32 individuals positive for Covid-19 from 510 screenings.

The sixth cluster is the Paginatan cluster involving the districts of Ranau, Papar and Kota Belud in Sabah. The index case was reported positive on December 15 and as of today, 232 individuals were screened and 47 were found positive.

The seventh cluster is the Tampoi Jaya cluster in Johor. The index case was found positive on December 17. Following that 231 individuals were screened and 32 returned positive tests results for Covid-19.

The final cluster also in Johor is called the Rapat cluster in the Kinta and Perak Tengah districts. The index case was reported positive on December 16. As of today 146 individuals have been tested and seven returned positive.

"The Residen construction site cluster (294 cases), Pasar Baru (270 cases) and Seruling cluster (221 cases) had the highest number of cases today,” Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a statement today.

Currently, Malaysia’s active clusters total 206. From this figure, 52 clusters reported new cases today while 253 clusters were announced to have ended.

Those closed today include the Summer, Kota Kecil and Tenaga clusters.