Shopping mall cluster biggest contributor to new cases in S'gor

COVID-19 | The Utama cluster, named after the 1 Utama shopping mall in Selangor, was the largest contributor to the number of new Covid-19 cases in the state as reported by the Health Ministry.

In a statement today, health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said of the 150 new cases in Selangor reported as of noon, 105 were attributed to the Utama cluster alone.

The index case has been identified as a foreign security guard, 28, who reported symptoms on Sept 22 but was only diagnosed on Oct 8.

So far, there are 132 positive Covid-19 cases attributed to this cluster.

The vast majority of its cases involved security guards (87) followed by cleaners (18) all who work at the mall.

Others infected were 16 staff members of various outlets in the mall, six patrons and five of their family members.

So far, this cluster has involved 107 foreigners and 25 Malaysian citizens.

The shopping mall has since been ordered to close between Oct 11 and 16 for sanitisation works.

Noor Hisham said that active case detection and close contact screening were still underway.

So far, 447 individuals have been screened, and 46 results are still pending results.

Meanwhile, Noor Hisham said there is no need to repurpose the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang (Maeps) as a Low-Risk Quarantine and Treatment Centre for now, as was done during Malaysia’s second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

This is because Sungai Buloh Hospital still has sufficient capacity to treat cases in Selangor despite the spike of Covid-19 cases in the state.

He said there are 466 hospital beds available for patients with no or mild symptoms in the state, and the experience of setting up and running Maeps has enabled the ministry to identify potential sites for new temporary hospitals quickly.

“If the need arises – for example, if there is an increase in cases in Selangor and there are few discharged cases – we may look into setting up a temporary hospital in Maeps.

“But for now, we don’t have such plans because we still have the capacity to treat those cases.

“If we decide to build a temporary hospital, it will only take three to four days,” he said.

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