KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 20 ― A new Covid-19 cluster has been identified in Bintulu, Sarawak, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said today.
The four positive cases identified were shipmates and they were found positive following screening activities that were done on five of the ship's crew that were symptomatic of the virus, Health director-general Tan Sri Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a statement today.
He added that two of the positive cases were Malaysians while the other two are foreigners, and their infections have been classified as import cases.
“These cases were detected following routine screenings and four were found positive for Covid-19 while one more is still waiting for the test results.
“The ship they were in has a history of travelling to Japan. All of them are now being treated in Bintulu Hospital in Sarawak,” said Dr Noor Hisham.
“As such, they do not pose any threat of infection towards the community as this is an isolated case aboard a ship,” he added.
Dr Noor Hisham also said the relevant authorities are now conducting active case detection and are doing screening for all who had close contact with the individuals.
Disinfection activities as well as preventative measures are also being taken on the ship in question.
Malaysia recorded five new cases today, with four from Sarawak and one Bangladeshi in Selangor. The total number of active cases is now 183 and the death toll stands at 125.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health posted on its Facebook page that three clusters have ended today.
They are the clusters in Elsa, Stutong and Al-Khobar, which brings the total number of clusters ended to 82.
The Elsa cluster in Kuantan, Pahang had four reported cases, with three foreigners and one local. The Stutong cluster in Kuching, Sarawak had seven cases all non-Malaysians and no deaths while the Al-Khobar cluster in Petaling, Selangor had two cases, both non-Malaysians and no deaths recorded.
