PUTRAJAYA: The Sri Petaling Covid-19 cluster is expected to end soon, Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah announced today.
Sri Petaling, which saw the mass tabligh gathering between Feb 27 and March 1, has not recorded new cases originating from the cluster for 14 consecutive days and only one active case left.
"We hope that in a week or two, we will be able to end the monitoring and surveillance of the cluster," he said in a press conference today.
Dr Noor Hisham was responding to a question on when the cluster is expected to be given clean bill of health.
He said when the ministry was informed of the gathering on March 9, most of the participants had returned to their home countries or hometowns.
Dr Noor Hisham said the ministry was informed that 16,000 individuals took part in the tabligh gathering, involving 1,500 participants from abroad and 14,500 locals.
"What we did was a unified effort by all parties (between the health ministry and other agencies) to detect and stem the transmission of Covid-19 among tabligh participants."
A total 42,023 samples were taken from the cluster, with 3,375 individuals tested positive for Covid-19, including one current active case.
"A total of 3,340 individuals have recovered while 34 deaths recorded from the cluster."
Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham urged Malaysians to continue complying with the standard operating procedures (SOPs) outlined by the ministry, despite the present lower active and daily new cases in the country.
He said many countries have experienced the resurgence of Covid-19 cases after they lifted restrictions on people's movement.
"We need to learn from the situation in Victoria, Australia, where it announced the closure of 55 border entrances to the state with New South Wales after Covid-19 cases escalated there, following SOPs violations.
"It is important for all of us to prevent the infection and stop the transmission of Covid-19 by continuing adhering to the SOPs."
On active cases in the country which now stood at 71, Dr Noor Hisham said it was a good development in the combat against the pandemic.
"We look into the infectivity of active cases and we have isolated them. Hence the cases are less now with 71, and our daily cases are also recorded at single-digit most of the time."
He said the number also meant that the infectivity of such patients was reduced.
"If there is no increase in terms of daily cases, then you will see that after two weeks; these 71 cases will become less and less."
Nonetheless, Dr Noor Hisham said the virus was still present in the country.
"We certainly would encourage the public to continue to adhere to the SOPs drafted by the ministry and make sure we comply with it.
"Social compliance is important too, along with social responsibility and discipline, which is equally important so that the country breaks the chain of Covid-19 transmission."
He said although no vaccines had been developed so far, it was not impossible to bring down the cases.
On another development, Dr Noor Hisham said none of six Chini by-election voters who had displayed Covid-19 symptoms was tested positive.
"The six voters were isolated and managed to cast their votes. So far none of them has been tested positive."