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Following my November 5 article on the good, the not-so-good, and the ugly, a new group was announced in Penang. Intan’s group involved a foreign worker and was traced back to a 30-year-old female worker who was infected in a routine examination as she was about to leave for her home. Congratulations to the State Department of Health officials who wasted no time doing contact tracing. Soon the numbers increased; From eight cases on November 5 to 85 cases on November 11, the infection spread beyond the apartment blocks in Relau, from where the group got its name, and even to Kedah.
The Intan cluster has proven to be worrisome, relegating the previously worrisome Bayan cluster to the background. And let’s not forget the Tembaga cluster, although its cases are practically under control with only 14 cases so far confined to Penang.
The evolving Permatang cluster will need a separate paragraph later.
As for Intan’s group, all but a handful of cases should be workers in a factory on the south side of the island. A little concerning, as I said, because cases have cropped up among locals in Daerah Timur Laut Gelugor and Mukim 13 and Daerah Barat Daya Mukim 12 and Mukim J. Contact tracing is vital to ensure that infections do not spread elsewhere. .
Speaking of which, all this preoccupation with wanting to know exactly where the positive cases are located, that is, where they stay, work, etc. It is irrelevant. When we receive a notification of a case in condo X, are we going to avoid infection by avoiding that place? I doubt it. Because we can go to a school and get infected there! Over the weekend, there was news of an outbreak at a private school and kindergarten in Georgetown.
The bottom line is that the virus is everywhere and can be in anyone simply because not everyone shows symptoms.
As we allow the numbers to drop, there is definitely some concern in Penang. There are currently 123 cases on the island, only a handful of which are in preventive detention and whose EMCO was lifted the day before yesterday. Congratulations, “petugas penjara” and “pégawai kesihatan KKM”, who did everything possible to contain the outbreak that has counted 512 cases within the prison walls in the heart of Georgetown.
On the mainland, there are 247 cases, but about 90% of these are in Seberang Perai prison, so the EMCO will need to be expanded for effective containment. With the Alma cluster in the background with no additional cases in the last two weeks, attention has turned to the Permatang cluster.
The Permatang cluster originates from a private hospital. An index case of Kedah has infected at least eight hospital workers. Since then, contact tracing has generated 26 cases in Penang and more in Kedah, Perak and Perlis. The Health Ministry said there are a total of 52 cases linked to the group.
Finally, there is only one more group to consider, the Bayan group, in our analysis of the situation in Penang. It began with the index case detected on October 21 and has since grown to more than 40 cases. The district CMCO was greeted with consternation and joy. Dismay for local residents who felt their movements slowed down. Joy to those who wanted the CMCO to stop broadcasting, which it did to some extent.
Bayan cluster cases have reached 128 in Penang, Kedah and Perak. Yes, it is another cross-border outbreak, this time involving factory workers. However, what is encouraging is that new cases have seen small increases in the last seven days. Many of the cases would also have been discharged at this point.
# SARSCOV2 is not as deadly if one does not have serious underlying medical conditions. Many cases in Penang are asymptomatic and detected by contact tracing. They will heal fast. They will be coming home soon.
For our part in Penang, let’s stay tuned. Never forget to wear a mask when we leave our houses. The virus does not differentiate between race, creed, wealth, or age. Let’s think especially of our family and loved ones as we search for #KitaJagaKita. – November 12, 2020.
* Boo Soon Yew reads The Malaysian Insight.
* This is the opinion of the author or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight.
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