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A factory in Pontian and sneaky house visits for a celebration in Kulai lead Malaysia’s Covid-19 clusters today

Foreign workers practise social distancing during the Op Patuh and Op Bantu operations at a factory in Shah Alam July 17, 2021. — Picture by Miera Zulyana
Foreign workers practise social distancing during the Op Patuh and Op Bantu operations at a factory in Shah Alam July 17, 2021. — Picture by Miera Zulyana

KUALA LUMPUR, July 26 — A factory in Pontian, Johor, gave rise to the biggest Covid-19 cluster among 33 nationwide recorded by the Health Ministry today.

The addition of the 33 new clusters in the last 24 hours raised the cumulative number of clusters since the pandemic struck the country to 3,485. Right now, 1,005 are active clusters.

The Johor factory cluster dubbed the Industri Jalan Perdana, saw 215 people test positive for the coronavirus out of 249 screened so far.

The cluster was detected during a targeted workplace Covid-19 screening at a factory along Jalan Perdana, the ministry said.

Another notable cluster that formed in Johor was the result of a recent home celebration in Jalan Teratai, Kampung Separa, Kulai.

Dubbed the Teratai Kulai cluster, the ministry said 35 people tested positive out of 95 screened so far.

The index case for this cluster is a 49-year-old who tested positive on July 24 but had shown symptoms of the disease since July 16.

Physical social activities are still restricted for states under Phase One and Two of the National Recovery Plan and this includes home visits.

The government had repeatedly advised the public to stay home and not visit each other in the run-up to Hari Raya Haji, which fell on July 20.

The Teratai Kulai cluster was not the only community cluster caused by people breaching the Covid-19 standard operating procedures.

A similar cluster, dubbed the Lorong Yusof Bongsu in Pasir Mas, Kelantan, saw an outbreak that has resulted in five out of 27 people screened testing positive for the disease so far.

The cluster was the result of people visiting a house in the village. The index case was a 29-year-old man who was reported positive on July 24.

Today’s second largest cluster was from another workplace, this time an industrial area in Nilai, Negri Sembilan.

The Industri Nilai Emas cluster has so far seen 83 new positive cases out of 422 people screened.

Another notable cluster detected today was in Kuala Lumpur, where 69 new cases were detected out of 226 people screened from a construction site on Jalan Pelangi.

This cluster was detected due to the large-scale targeted screening at the workplace involving workers from the construction site.

Today, the country recorded 14,516 new Covid-19 cases and 207 deaths today, with the total death tally at 8,201 since the pandemic struck the country.

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