Covid-19 (Dec 14): 1,371 new cases, woman brought in dead to Ipoh hospital

COVID-19 | The Health Ministry today reported 1,371 new Covid-19 cases with Selangor, Sabah, Negeri Sembilan and Kuala Lumpur reaching triple-digit figures.

Meanwhile, among the Covid-19 deaths reported today is a middle-aged woman who died before being brought to a hospital in Ipoh.

Leading indicators:

• Active cases: 13,830 ↑ (213 more than the previous day)
• Patients in ICU: 114 ↓ (1 less than the previous day)
• Intubated patients: 62 ↓ (3 less than the previous day)
• Deaths: 4 = (same previous day)

The four fatalities put the death toll at 419. Details about the latest deaths are as follows:

Patient 52,589 (Death 416): A 40-year-old Malaysian woman. She died at Labuan Hospital and had a history of diabetes.

Patient 67,912 (Death 417): 50-year-old Malaysian woman. Brought in dead at Raja Permaisuri Bainun Hospital, Ipoh, Perak. Had a history of diabetes, high blood pressure, and dyslipidaemia.

Patient 80,659 (Death 418): 46-year-old Malaysian woman. Died at Tawau Hospital, Sabah. Had a history of high blood pressure, dyslipidaemia, and obesity.

Patient 43,969 (Death 419): A 54-year-old foreign man. Died at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. No history of chronic diseases.

A breakdown of the new infections by states is as follows:

Selangor (532)

Existing clusters: 303

New clusters: 8 (Solar Ria cluster)

Close contacts: 109

Imported: 1

Other screenings: 111

Sabah (283)

Existing clusters: 65

Close contacts: 155

Other screenings: 63

Negeri Sembilan (260)

Existing clusters: 252

Close contacts: 1

Other screenings: 7

Kuala Lumpur (124)

Existing clusters: 71

New clusters: 5 (Senu Setia cluster)

Close contacts: 15

Other screenings: 33

Perak (62)

Existing clusters: 58

Other screenings: 4

Johor (45)

Existing clusters: 17

Close contacts: 18

Other screenings: 10

Penang (31)

Existing clusters: 3

Close contacts: 19

Other screenings: 9

Labuan (16)

Existing clusters: 8

Close contacts: 8

Terengganu (9)

Existing clusters: 9

Kedah (5)

Existing clusters: 4

Other screenings: 1

Kelantan (2)

Other screenings: 2

Malacca (1)

Close contacts: 1

Putrajaya (1)

Other screenings: 1

There were no new reported cases in Sarawak, Pahang, and Perlis today.

Meanwhile, Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah told an online press conference that two clusters had been declared over.

One of these is the Benteng LD cluster, which was first reported on Sept 1 and turned out to be the first of many major Covid-19 outbreaks in the current wave of infections.

The cluster first emerged in detention facilities in Lahad Datu and Tawau, but soon spread into surrounding communities. There are 1,146 cases reported in this cluster, including one death.

The other cluster is the Greenhill cluster in Kuching, Miri and Bintulu, Sarawak, which recorded 91 cases and no deaths.

However, the Health Ministry has also detected two new clusters; hence the number of active clusters remains unchanged at 191.

Both clusters are workplace-related clusters.

The Solar Ria cluster was detected in Selangor’s Sepang, Kuala Selangor, Gombak, Petaling and Hulu Langat districts after a foreigner underwent a Covid-19 test on Dec 7 in preparation to return to her home country.

By Dec 14, 25 cases have been identified out of 2,339 people screened.

Like the Solar Ria cluster, the Senu Setia cluster in Kepong, Kuala Lumpur, was detected as a foreigner was preparing to return to his home country.

The index cases tested positive for Covid-19 on Dec 13, and to date, 13 out of 26 people screened have the disease.

As for the existing clusters, the fastest-growing cluster today is the Ceram cluster in Seremban, with 220 new cases reported today for a total of 426 cases and 1,446 people screened.

This is followed by the Tapak Bina Muda cluster with 143 new cases, for a total of 348 cases and 2,538 people screened.

The third is the Teratai cluster linked to Top Glove factories in Klang. There were 81 new cases reported today, for a total of 5,531 cases and 8,722 people screened.