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PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia recorded triple-digit Covid-19 cases for the second time in three days, and the Health Ministry announced 182 new infections after 100 new cases on Tuesday.
Most of the cases are from the Benteng LD (Lahad Datu) group in Sabah with 167 new infections, all within the Tawau prison.
All but six of those infected are arrested: 70 of them Malays, while 61 are from the Philippines and 30 from Indonesia.
The total number of cases under the cluster has now doubled to 337, currently the largest and most active cluster nationwide.
Health Director General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said that minus the 14 patients discharged yesterday, the total number of active cases in the country had skyrocketed to 501 cases.
“All patients have been isolated and treated,” he said yesterday in a statement.
The Tawau prison area is currently under an Enhanced Movement Control Order (MCO) with massive checks being carried out on both detainees and prison staff.
The cluster was first detected after two undocumented immigrants were captured under the government’s Ops Benteng and taken to the Lahad Datu police headquarters. .
Apart from the LD group from Benteng, other cases recorded yesterday were from the Sungai (11 cases) and Telaga (three cases) groups in Kedah. The Sungai group currently has 50 cases, while the Telaga group has 16 cases.
Both groups originated from health workers in two public and private hospitals in the state.
The only imported case is a foreigner who came from the Philippines.
The death toll remains at 128.
Malaysia has had a total of 9,810 Covid-19 cases since the outbreak began in January, with 9,181 (93.6%) recoveries so far.
Meanwhile, authorities say failure to observe social distancing was one of the violations under the recovery MCO, with 312 people arrested Thursday.
Chief Minister (Security) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said 143 people were arrested for committing the crime, with other offenses including activities in pubs and nightclubs (70), prostitution (31) and not wearing a mask (23).
Police also arrested seven illegal immigrants, along with 31 others for prostitution and one for operating beyond the allowed hours.
Actions were also taken against 37 store owners for not providing customers with equipment to register their presence.
Under Ops Benteng, the authorities had captured 84 illegal immigrants, a smuggler and a tekong (patron).
“We will also crack down on anyone who facilitates those who try to sneak into the country,” Ismail Sabri said in a statement yesterday. On the mandatory quarantine at designated stations imposed since July 24, he said that a total of 26,999 people had returned to Malaysia, so that so far, 10,266 are currently quarantined in hotels and public training institutes.
He added that on Thursday, the Ministry of Housing and Local Government carried out six sanitation operations in Kedah, four in Penang, three in Melaka and Sabah respectively, two in Sarawak and one in Negri Sembilan and Pahang.
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