KUALA LUMPUR: Two more new clusters were identified today, namely the Batu Cluster in Taiping, Perak and the Ramai-Ramai Cluster in Sandakan, Sabah, said Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
This brings the total number of active clusters in Malaysia to 39.
Dr Noor Hisham said the Batu Cluster had been identified as a result of screening among staff and family members of a detention centre.
“Seven cases were tested positive Covid-19 on Oct 5 and they were all admitted to the Raja Permaisuri Bainun Hospital, Perak.
“As of Oct 6 (today) at noon, a total of 860 individuals have been screened while the cause of the infection is still under investigation,” he said.
For Ramai-Ramai Cluster, the index case (case 12,161) is a bus driver who had symptoms of sore throat and fever since Sept 27.
“The case was detected positive on Oct 3 and was admitted to the Duchess of Kent Hospital in Sandakan for treatment.
“Following that, close contact screenings have been conducted and 19 more positive Covid-19 cases have been identified, involving locals. They have also been admitted to the Duchess of Kent Hospital,” he said.
Meanwhile, he said there were seven other active clusters that recorded an increase in Covid-19 positive cases today including the Tembok Cluster with 394 new cases; Bangau-Bangau Cluster (30 cases), Jalan Meru Cluster (15 cases), Bah Sintok Cluster (three cases); Benteng PK Cluster (two cases); while Selasih Cluster and Embun Cluster each recorded one new case.
Dr Noor Hisham explained that out of the 688 local transmission cases, 394 cases involved Tembok Cluster namely prison in Kedah thus covering 57 percent of the total number of cases today.
“Tembok Cluster is an isolated cluster in the prison and in the area under the administrative enhanced movement control order. This means that they are isolated from the society,” he said.
He said the increase of 394 cases today brought the total number of cases for the cluster to 1,047 and one death was recorded.
Meanwhile, on the increase in hospital capacity in Malaysia, Dr Noor Hisham said as of today, the number of beds provided to treat Covid-19 patients was 6,759.
“They comprise 2,820 beds at the Ministry of Health Malaysia (MoH) hospitals and 3,975 beds at the Quarantine and Low Risk Centres and the bed occupancy rates for these two facilities nationwide are 36 percent and 29 percent respectively.
“As for the number of beds in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), a total of 437 beds are reserved for Covid-19 patients with an occupancy rate of six percent and a total of 1,505 ventilators are also provided at MoH hospitals with a utilisation rate of 37 percent nationwide, including for non-Covid-19 patients,” he said.
Explaining on the preparedness of the MoH in Sabah, Dr Noor Hisham said there were six specialist hospitals in Sabah that treated Covid-19 patients including Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Sabah Women and Children’s Hospital, Tawau Hospital, Lahad Datu Hospital, Duchess of Kent Hospital and Keningau Hospital.
Additional wards have been opened at the Likas Sports Complex building, Tawau Sports Complex building, Tawau Arena Hall, Tawau Prison Complex and MoH Training Institute building, Tun Haji Mustapha Hall and Rafflesia Hall, Batu Putih People’s Housing Programme (PPR) and Bubul Ria PPR (Semporna) while Sekolah Menengah Agama hostel is open for Kunak district cases.
The bed capacity for six MoH hospitals and 10 Covid-19 low-risk treatment and quarantine centres (PKRC) is 710 beds and 1,886 beds respectively, with the occupancy rate of 75 percent in MOH hospitals and 35 percent in PKRC.
“Sabah has 72 beds dedicated to treating critical Covid-19 patients and the occupancy rate is 38 percent,” he said.
He added that so far the total daily testing capacity throughout Sabah was 2,500 tests.
The MoH was working on a modular laboratory in Tawau and so far, 15,000 RTK-Antigen had been sent to Sabah to increase the case screening capacity in the state. – Bernama
