Covid-19 (Dec 15): 1,772 new cases, large construction cluster in KL

COVID-19 | The Health Ministry today reported 1,772 new Covid-19 cases and three deaths. 

A large number of new cases (567) were from a single construction site cluster (Tapak Bina Damanlela, active since November) in Kuala Lumpur. 

The Klang Valley has the highest number of new cases amounting to 67.7 percent of the national total, followed by Sabah (14.7 percent) and Perak (6.2 percent).

The detection of 301 cases in the Klang Valley were through means classified  as "lain-lain saringan" (other screenings) - an umbrella term for screenings on people with symptoms, pre-surgery screening, workplace screenings and pre-departure screenings, among others.

This meant that the number of new Klang Valley cases of unknown origin - that are not related to clusters or close contacts - exceeded to total number of new cases in Sabah (260).

Leading indicators:

• Active cases: 14,515 ↑ (685 more than the previous day)
• Patients in ICU: 118 ↑ (4 more than the previous day)
• Intubated patients: 56 ↓ (6 less than the previous day)
• Deaths: 3 

[For 14-day cumulative new cases count at mukim (locality) level, click here. For details of new cases by clusters, click here. There may be delays to updates by the respective state health departments.]

All three victims were from Sabah. The cumulative Covid-19 death toll for Sabah has reached 242 or 57.35 percent of the national total (422).

Details of the victims - all Malaysians with comorbidity - are as follows: 

Patient 52,142 - Female, 45, passed away at the Duchess of Kent Hospital, Sandakan. 

Patient 54,828 - Male, 88, passed away at the Duchess of Kent Hospital, Sandakan. 

Patient 56,822 - Male, 75, passed away at the Duchess of Kent Hospital, Sandakan.

Of the 1,772 new cases, twelve were imported. A breakdown of the new cases are as follows: 

Kuala Lumpur (696)
Existing clusters: 629
Close contact: 31
Imported: 8
Other screening: 28

Selangor (503)
Existing clusters: 62
Close contact: 165
Imported: 3
Other screening: 273

Sabah (260)
Existing clusters: 52
Close contact: 137
Other screening: 71

Perak (110)
Existing clusters: 105
Close contact: 5

Negeri Sembilan (67)
Existing clusters: 56
Close contact: 4
Other screening: 7

Johor (48)
Existing clusters: 24
Close contact: 19
Other screening: 5

Penang (34)
Existing clusters: 21
Close contact: 4
Imported: 1
Other screening: 8

Kedah (20)
Existing clusters: 11
Close contact: 7
Other screening: 2

Labuan (11)
Existing clusters: 5
Close contact: 3
Other screening: 3

Pahang (8)
Existing clusters: 8

Terengganu (7)
Existing clusters: 5
Close contact: 2

Malacca (5)
Existing clusters: 1
Close contact: 1

Kelantan (3)
Close contact: 1
Other screening: 2

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry also announced that there are 189 active Covid-19 clusters of which 55 reported new cases today. 

Encouragingly, there were no new clusters classified by the Health Ministry today. 

The cluster which reported the most new cases is the aforementioned Tapak Bina Damanlela cluster (568) construction site cluster. 

This is followed by the Tembok cluster (99 new cases) and the Tapak Bina Rimbun cluster (27 cases). The Tembok cluster is a cluster which began in September involving the Alor Setar jail. Tapak Bina Rimbun is a cluster involving a construction site in Negeri Sembilan. 

The Tapak Bina Damanlela cluster has very high infectivity rate (56.9 percent of 4,311 tested positive). Although the cluster began at the Kepong district in Kuala Lumpur, it has spread throughout the Klang Valley due to movement of workers.