KUALA LUMPUR — A large majority of the current 26 active Covid-19 clusters in Selangor — amid the third wave of the virus in Malaysia — are actually not linked to those who returned from Sabah, the country’s health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said on Wednesday (Oct 21).

Out of Selangor’s 26 active clusters, Dr Noor Hisham pointed out that 18 of these clusters or 69.2 per cent are from local infections, while only eight of these clusters or 30.8 per cent are linked to those who returned from Sabah.

“This means 69.2 per cent of infections in Selangor are not related to those who returned from Sabah. The Covid-19 virus is already in our community,” he said in a brief Facebook post.

On Tuesday, Dr Noor Hisham noted that Selangor had under the third wave seen an increase in Covid-19 cases recorded in late September following the return of those from Sabah, with an attached chart showing that Sept 22 was when the first such case was recorded in Selangor.

For the 26 active clusters in Selangor under the third wave of Covid-19 infections, Dr Noor Hisham on Tuesday said that the first of such clusters to be recorded was the Jalan Apas cluster on Sept 28, which involved a family which had returned from Sabah.

But he also noted that an increase in local transmission of Covid-19 within Selangor was detected from Oct 2 and has been steadily on the rise since then.

Commenting further on the 26 clusters, Dr Noor Hisham pointed out that six clusters reported since Oct 11 were due to local transmissions of Covid-19, with nine clusters or 34.6 per cent related to infections spread at the workplace, and one cluster or 3.8 per cent related to a shopping mall.

“This situation is due to the population density and high rate of movement among residents in Selangor and visitors in Selangor,” he had said previously.

With a total of 132 new Covid-19 cases recorded on Tuesday in Selangor, the state now has a cumulative total of 3,489 cases.

Based on the cumulative total of cases recorded since the Covid-19 pandemic reached Malaysia, Sabah as of Tuesday has the highest cumulative number at 8,755 cases, followed by Selangor (3,489), Kuala Lumpur (2,860), Kedah (1,957), and Negri Sembilan (1,110), while the other states and federal territories each have cumulative totals below 1,000 cases.

But while Malaysia as a whole has a cumulative total of 22,225 cases as of Tuesday, 14,351 have been discharged while 193 deaths have been recorded and 7,681 cases remain active and require treatment. MALAY MAIL