MOH: Four COVID-19 sub-clusters discovered in religious schools

KUALA LUMPUR, April 12 — The Health Ministry has identified four coronavirus disease (Covid-19) sub-clusters linked to index patients from the tabligh gathering in the Sri Petaling Mosque last month.

Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said in his daily Covid-19 press conference that the sub-clusters involved madrasah and tahfiz religious schools in Pahang, Penang, Selangor and Melaka.

“We’ve identified four sub-clusters in a few madrasahs and tahfiz schools. The first is a madrasah in Jerantut, Pahang. We screened 401 people, where 297 were students and 104 were the employees and their family members.

“There were 62 positive cases and they were admitted into Hospital Tengku Ampuan Afzan in Kuantan — 20 have recovered,” said Dr Noor Hisham.

The next sub-cluster was a madrasah in Penanti, Penang, where 291 individuals were screened with 251 students and the remaining 35 were the school’s staff.

This sub-cluster has six Covid-19 patients with two still being treated at the Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital in Kedah while the other four have been discharged.

The third sub-cluster was in Sungai Lui in Selangor. A total of 282 people were screened with 274 being students and the remaining eight being the school’s staff. Ninety cases, or one in three, were found to be positive, but 67 have already recovered.

The final sub-cluster is located at a madrasah in Jasin, Melaka where 137 people were screened — 122 students and 15 school staff. The screening found 37 positive cases which were admitted into Melaka Hospital with one of the patients recovering.

At the same time, Dr Noor Hisham also reminded the public not to discriminate against Covid-19 patients or to associate any groups with the clusters.

The Health D-G said the vital thing now was to detect and treat those in high-risk groups to try and break the chain of Covid-19 infections. — Malay Mail