KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry has recorded seven new cases of Covid-19 as of noon today, bringing the tally of infections in the country to 9,219.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the new infections brought the total number of active cases to 192.
Four of the new cases are imported, where two of them are Malaysians and the others are foreigners. The remaining are local transmissions registered in Kedah.
All of the imported cases are registered in Kuala Lumpur, involving returnees who arrived from Bangladesh (three) and United Kingdom (one).
Meanwhile, the local transmissions were from Sala (two cases) and Tawar (one) clusters.
"One new Covid-19 case was reported from Tawar Cluster, bringing the number to 47 cases with a total of 1,490 people have been screened for Covid-19 as of noon on Aug 18 (today).
"From those screened in this cluster, 1,195 (samples) of them were in Kedah; with 40 confirmed positive, 858 negative and 297 still awaiting results.
"Some 286 people screened in Penang, with seven of them positive for Covid-19, 216 negative and 63 still awaiting results. Nine people screened in Perak were negative for Covid-19," he told a Press conference today.
For Sala Cluster, he said 635 people had been screened for Covid-19 so far. From this number, 629 were in Kedah with eight confirmed positive for Covid-19, 479 negative and 142 still awaiting results.
Six people were screened for Covid-19 under this cluster in Penang with no new cases registered. Four turned out negative and two others are still awaiting results.
He said close contact screening and Active Case Detection were ongoing, with the source of infections for both clusters were being investigated and some factors contributing to the infections identified.
"The spread of Covid-19 in Tawar Cluster was contributed by gatherings among family members who did not comply fully to the SOP. For example, guest numbers did not correspond to the size capacity of the area, with no physical distancing between the people. The index patient and cause of infection are still under investigation.
"For Sala Cluster, the index case has a history of visiting a patient at a hospital with several family members. While there was no Covid-19 case detected through screenings at the hospital, all family members who went there were confirmed positive."
He said Covid-19 had spread to close contacts of the index patient and family members.
Dr Noor Hisham said no new case was detected in the Sivanggangga Cluster, with a total of 45 positive cases and 6,034 people screened so far.
He said 26 Covid-19 patients had recovered and were discharged today, raising the cumulative number of recovered cases to 8,902 (96.6 per cent).
He said there were eight Covid-19 cases being treated at the intensive care units, with two on ventilator support.
No new deaths were reported today and the number of Covid-19 fatalities remains at 125 (1.36 per cent).
He said the public should avoid 3Cs namely confined space, crowded space and close conversation. Similarly, the public has been urged to practice the 3Ws namely hand-washing, wearing of face masks and heed warning from Health Ministry in the efforts to break the chain of Covid-19 infections.
He also reminded the public to adhere to the Standard Operating Procedures(SOP).