Covid 19 Seven New Cases Sop Non Compliance Led To Recent Clusters

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COVID-19 | Malaysia registered seven new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours as of noon today, comprising four imported and three locally transmitted cases
The three local transmissions comprise two from the Sala cluster and one from the Tawar cluster
In a press conference today, Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said preliminary studies found that a lack of adherence to standard operating procedures (SOPs) possibly led to the clusters
The source of infection for both remains under investigation
“What contributed to the spread of infection in the Tawar cluster was an assembly of family members that did not fully adhere to SOP
“The capacity of guests at the assembly did not adhere to the size of the (gathering's) space or safe physical distancing (guidelines). This caused widespread transmission (of Covid-19) in this cluster,” he said
The Tawar cluster registered a total of 47 cases as of today - 40 in Kedah and seven in Penang
As for the Sala cluster, Noor Hisham shared that the index case had a history of making hospital visits with several family members, who all tested positive for the virus
The virus later spread to close contacts of both the index case and the family members
This was despite how the hospital in question did not pick up any positive cases through its Covid-19 screenings
“We suspect that the hospital visit might have contributed to the spread seeing that there are many patients at the hospital, and this increases the risk of transmission
“There is a big possibility that the transmission in both these clusters could have been prevented if all parties followed the 3C rule - avoiding crowded places, confined spaces and close conversations,” he said
The Sala cluster registered a total of eight cases as of today. All are from Kedah
Eight in ICUAs for the imported cases, the Health DG said three had returned from Bangladesh while one had returned from the UK
Malaysia recorded 26 recoveries over the same time frame, bringing active cases down to 192
Eight cases are being treated in the intensive care unit (ICU). Two of the eight have been placed in a ventilator
No new deaths were reported, keeping the Covid-19 death toll at 125
The top official said 6,583 RT-PCR tests were performed yesterday - 17 percent of the 38,236 daily capacity
‘Superspreader’ in Bukit Tiram alsoAsked if the ministry had detected any “superspreader” cases in the Tawar cluster - the second largest active cluster in the country - Noor Hisham said no
However, he said the D614G mutation - identified as a more transmissible strain of Covid-19 - had been found in both the PUI Sivagangga and Bukit Tiram clusters
“As of now, we have identified that only a non-citizen from the Philippines from the Bukit Tiram (cluster) has that mutation
“And PUI Sivagangga (cluster) has that mutation,” he said
A "superspreader" Covid-19 strain refers to strains that have a higher infectivity rate than usual
It has also been used to refer to patients who spread the virus to many others
- Mkini

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