Detention depot and Pedas clusters push new Covid-19 cases to 93

The country today recorded 93 new Covid-19 cases, the highest in five days.

The spike was contributed by the discovery of more infections at the Bukit Jalil immigration detention depot in Kuala Lumpur and the outbreak linked to a chicken farm in Pedas, Negeri Sembilan.

"Ninety-three new cases were reported, bringing the cumulative Covid-19 cases to 7,970 cases," Health Ministry director-general Noor Hisham Abdullah told a press conference today.

He said only two of the 93 new Covid-19 cases involved Malaysians while the 91 others were foreigners.

The largest source was the detention depot with 55 new cases while the Pedas cluster recorded 36 new cases.

The two cases involving Malaysians were from the tahfiz schools and markets clusters respectively.

With the new cases, the detention depot and Pedas clusters have recorded a total of 338 and 256 cases respectively.

They are the second and third largest clusters in the country to date, after the Sri Petaling gathering cluster which recorded 3,373 cases to date.

The Sri Petaling gathering cluster had not seen any new cases for three consecutive days.

The data is for the last 24 hours up to noon today.

As for recoveries, Noor Hisham said 61 people were discharged, bringing the recoveries to 6,531 or 81.94 percent of total cases.

A total of 1,324 people are still under treatment, of which six are in the intensive care unit (ICU). From the ICU patients, two need ventilators to breathe.

No new death was reported for the 12th consecutive day. The death toll stands at 115.

Apart from the Bukit Jalil immigration detention depot, there were also outbreaks at the immigration detention depots in Semenyih, Sepang, and Putrajaya.

However, the other three detention depots did not record new cases today.

Collectively, 465 foreigners detained at the various depots have been infected with Covid-19.

They comprise 123 people from India, 108 from Bangladesh, 76 from Indonesia, 66 from Myanmar, 45 from Pakistan, 18 from China, seven from Sri Lanka, five from Nepal, four from Cambodia, three from the Phillippines, two from Egypt and one from Laos, Nigeria, Libya, and Syria respectively.

The country of origin for four more are still being determined.

The Pedas cluster which started from a chicken factory also mostly involved foreigners.

Of the 256 total cases, 242 were foreigners while 14 were Malaysians.

The foreigners comprise 136 from Nepal, 55 from Bangladesh, 26 from Myanmar, 21 from Indonesia, three from India and one from Vietnam.

Noor Hisham urged employers to take care of the welfare of their workers, both locals and foreigners alike.

"Human resource is a valuable asset for any company or organisation. This includes workers who are citizens and non-citizens.

"A good employer is an employer who always takes care of the wellbeing and welfare of its workers," he said.

He called on employers to educate their workers about Covid-19, provide accommodation that is conducive for social distancing, and screen them.

Noor Hisham also reiterated for the public to comply with the movement control order.

He encouraged the public to avoid crowded places, confined spaces, and close conversations.

He added that people should frequently wash their hands with soap and wear a face mask in public places.

Meanwhile, Noor Hisham confirmed that the semi-enhanced MCO in Kuala Langat is due to the 28 Covid-19 cases were discovered there, mostly involving workers for a cleaning company that serves the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

He said the workers have dormitories there, and may have exposed others such as when they go to shops.

He said testing will be done for everyone in the locality, regardless of locality.

Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said earlier today that those inside the semi-enhanced MCO area were allowed to leave provided they get screened at checkpoints.