Covid-19: Five students infected in school among 11 new cases, 8 in ICU

COVID-19 | There were 11 new Covid-19 cases detected by the Health Ministry as of noon today.

The number of Covid-19 patients needing ventilator support has increased to six, up from four on Sunday.

According to the Health Ministry, nine of the new cases involved local transmissions among Malaysians.

Seven of these cases were recorded in Kedah, of which five were linked to the Tawar cluster and all involved school children.

A case in Kedah involved a patient who was screened after developing symptoms while another was screened prior to undergoing surgery.

In Perlis, there was one case where a patient was screened after suffering from a severe acute respiratory infection.

In Selangor, one case was reported but no details are known at the time of writing, other than the patient was asymptomatic.

As for the two imported cases, one involved a Malaysian while the other a foreigner.

Currently, the number of Covid-19 patients under intensive care remained the same at eight.

Elaborating on the Tawar cluster, Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said 70 cases have been attributed to this cluster thus far.

Active case detection was still ongoing and 3,547 people have been screened so far, he added. 

As for RT-PCR testing, the top official said 6,882 tests were performed yesterday - 18 percent of the 38,236 daily testing capacity.

School with infected students closed

Noor Hisham shared that the school attended by the five students from the Tawar cluster had since been closed.

The source of infection remains under investigation.

“The school has been closed and we are investigating. There is a possibility that the infection is from a mother to her child, and then the child while socialising with friends at school, infected them. 

“This is a third-generation case. Nevertheless, we are doing screenings and investigations into those who have been exposed to the children,” he said during a press conference.

The five students comprise two 12-year-old boys, two 12-year-old girls and one nine-year-old girl.

According to the ministry, the students had contact with Case 9,227, who is a six-year-old child, at the school.

Case 9,227 had contact with another six-year-old (Case 9,197), whose father (Case 9,146) works in a private hospital in Sungai Petani, Kedah.