Covid-19 (Dec 22): 2,062 new cases, half in S'gor alone

COVID-19 | The Health Ministry today reported 2,062 new cases and one death. 

The number of new cases in the Klang Valley was 73.7 percent of the total new cases. 

Three workplace clusters - Tapak Bina Residen, Pasar Baru, and Seruling - accounted for approximately half of the new clusters in the Klang Valley. 

In Selangor, of the 126 cases detected through "other screenings", 30 were diagnosed after symptoms were reported while 16 were detected through pre-departure, pre-hospitalisation, or pre-work screenings. [Learn more about "other screenings" here].

Leading indicators:

• Active cases:  17,646↑ (1,149 more than the previous day, new record)
• Patients in ICU: 111 ↑ (2 more than the previous day)
• Intubated patients:  51 ↓ (4 less than the previous day)
• Deaths: 1

[For 14-day cumulative new cases count at mukim (locality) level, click here. For details of new cases by clusters, click here. There may be delays to updates by the respective state health departments.]

One death was reported in Labuan. The body of the victim, a 69-year-old non-citizen, was brought to the Labuan Hospital. 

Curiously, this victim was classified as case "41,065", suggesting that he was diagnosed sometime in the first half of November. 

Checks with the Health Ministry revealed that this person died on Nov 8 but was only classified as a Covid-19 related death today.

The RT-PCR capacity and test numbers were not made available today. These figures are only given when press conferences are held by the director-general, which are scheduled for Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

A breakdown of new cases are as follows:

Selangor (1,014)
Existing clusters: 464
New clusters: 272
Close contacts: 151
Imported: 1
Other screenings: 126

Kuala Lumpur (504)
Existing clusters: 63
New clusters: 369
Close contacts: 39
Imported: 3
Other screenings: 39

Sabah (252)
Existing clusters: 20
Other clusters: 35
Close contacts: 146
Other screenings: 51

Johor (167)
Existing clusters: 123
New clusters: 20
Close contacts: 14
Other screenings: 10

Negeri Sembilan (57)
Existing clusters: 30
Close contacts: 16
Other screenings: 11

Penang (23)
Existing clusters: 7
Close contacts: 2
Other screenings: 14

Perak (17)
Existing clusters: 4
New cluster: 2
Close contacts: 6
Other screenings: 5

Malacca (9)
Existing clusters: 3
Close contacts: 6

Pahang (6)
Existing clusters: 1
Close contacts: 3
Other screenings: 2

Kedah (5)
Existing clusters: 2
Close contacts: 1
Other screenings: 2

Kelantan (4)
Existing clusters: 4
Other screenings: 2

Labuan (2)
Existing clusters: 1
Other screenings: 1

Putrajaya (2)
Existing clusters: 2

Sarawak, Terengganu, and Perlis did not report any new cases.

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry today classified eight new Covid-19 clusters including the aforementioned Tapak Bina Resident and Pasar Baru clusters.

The Tapak Bina Resident cluster involved a construction site in Lembah Pantai, Kuala Lumpur that was subjected to mass screening. There are 294 cases in the cluster currently.

The Pasar Baru cluster involved the Klang and Kuala Langat districts in Selangor where the index case was diagnosed on Dec 15 after complaining of symptoms.

As of today, 2,001 individuals related to this cluster have been screened of which 309 returned positive for Covid-19.

The Bukit Naga cluster involved a construction site in the Klang district in Selangor that was subjected to testing for Covid-19. So far, 58 cases have been detected.

The Tapak Bina Kasih cluster involved a construction site in Kepong, Kuala Lumpur. So far, this cluster has 43 cases.

The Tapak Bina Sinar View cluster involved a construction site in Kepong, Kuala Lumpur where workers were tested today and 32 cases have been detected.

The Paginatan cluster involved Ranau, Papar, and Kota Belud in Sabah. The index case was diagnosed on Dec 15 after reporting symptoms. So far there are 47 cases in this cluster.

The Tampoi Jaya cluster involved the Johor Bahru district in Johor, where the index case was diagnosed on Dec 17 after reporting symptoms. So far there are 32 cases in this cluster.

The Rapat cluster involved the Kinta and Perak Tengah districts in Perak where the index case was diagnosed on Dec 16 after reporting symptoms. So far there are seven cases in this cluster.

The Health Ministry said that there are 206 active Covid-19 clusters (and trending upward) of which 52 clusters reported new cases.