COVID-19 | The Health Ministry today reported 1,103 new Covid-19 cases as of noon today, of which a significant number was attributed to a cluster involving a construction site in Kuala Lumpur.

Most of the new cases were reported in the Klang Valley region (49.3 percent) followed by Sabah (26.1 percent) and Perak (10.5 percent).

In Kuala Lumpur, the Tapak Bina Damanlela cluster, linked to a construction site in the city, saw the largest number of new cases (385 cases). This cluster has 1,132 cases to date.

The sudden spike in new cases in Perak was due to the Tembok cluster (111 new cases), which originated from the Alor Setar Prison in Kedah. 

It was earlier reported that the Tembok cluster also included detainees at the Kamuning Correctional Centre in Taiping, who were infected after detainee transfers.

The number of cases in subdistrict of Taiping today is up by 111 cases, corresponding with the rise in the Tembok cluster.

The number of new cases attributed to the Hentian cluster, which has spread across the Klang Valley and originated from the Kajang bus station, had increased by 83.

Leading indicators in brief:

• Active cases - 12,601 ↑ (278 more than previous day)

• Patients in intensive care - 102 ↓ (2 less than previous day)

• Intubated patients - 39 ↓ (3 less than previous day)

• Deaths - 4

Sabah reported 288 new cases today. The number of new cases had been reducing gradually over the past two weeks.

Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah noted that the trend was proof that preventive measures taken in Sabah were working.

Authorities had placed three districts in Sabah under conditional movement control order (CMCO) on Oct 13 before expanding the restrictions to the entire state on Oct 27.

Referring to the recent spike in new cases traced to foreign worker dormitories, Noor Hisham said 3,674 foreign workers in Klang Valley has tested positive for Covid-19 to as of noon yesterday, which amounted to 7.7 percent of cumulative cases yesterday.

Of the 1,103 new cases reported by the Health Ministry today, only one did not involve local transmission.

No new cases were reported in Pahang and Perlis. A breakdown of the new locally-transmitted cases are as follows:

Kuala Lumpur (392)

• Existing cluster: 385
• Close contact: 3
• Other screenings: 4

Sabah (288)

• Existing cluster: 40
• New cluster (Matambai): 15
• Close contact: 158
• Other screenings: 75

Selangor (150)

• Existing cluster: 99
• Close contact: 24
• Patient with symptoms: 2
• Other screenings: 25

Perak (116)

• Existing cluster: 113
• Close contact: 1
• Patient with symptoms: 1
• Other screenings: 1

Negeri Sembilan (90)

• Existing cluster: 84
• Close contact: 3
• Other screenings: 3

Penang (26)

• Existing cluster: 19
• Close contact: 7

Kedah (10)

• Existing cluster: 8
• Other screenings: 2

Labuan (8)

• Existing cluster: 4
• Close contact: 2
• Other screenings: 2

Johor (8)

• Existing cluster: 5
• Other screenings: 3

Kelantan (7)

• Existing cluster: 3
• Close contact: 4

Terengganu (4)

• Close contact: 4

Sarawak (1)

• Existing cluster: 1

Malacca (1)

• Existing cluster: 1

Putrajaya (1)

• Existing cluster: 1

The Health Ministry reported one new cluster known as Matambai, involving the districts of Kota Kinabalu and Penampang in Sabah.

The index case (Patient 22,962) reported symptoms on Oct 22. So far, 24 cases have been attributed to this cluster.

According to Noor Hisham, the country's RT-PCR test capacity across 61 laboratories was 59,390.

He said yesterday, 19,235 tests were conducted or 32 percent of capacity.

In Sabah, there are two laboratories capable of conducting 2,700 tests daily.

Yesterday, the two laboratories reported it processed 3,576 tests (132 percent of capacity).