COVID-19: Utama Cluster traced to Nepalese security guard

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 15 -- The Ministry of Health today confirmed that the COVID-19 cases in the Utama Cluster involving a shopping mall in Petaling originated from a 28-year-old Nepalese security guard (case number 15,023).

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said so far, the cluster had recorded a total of 132 cases, including 105 reported today.

"The breakdown of the 132 positive cases detected in this cluster is 87 security personnel, 18 cleaning staff, 16 workers from several shops in the mall, six visitors and five family members of case number 12,549.

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"Previously, the MOH suspected that case number 12,549 was the index cases, however, further investigations found that the symptoms for this case began later than case number 15,023," he said during his virtual press conference broadcast on the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) Facebook page today.

Dr Noor Hisham said the index case had been experiencing fever, cough and flu since Sept 22, and tested positive on Oct 8 through close contact screening before being admitted to the Sungai Buloh Hospital for treatment.

A total of 131 cases linked to the cluster were reported in Selangor, and one in Melaka, involving 107 foreigners and 25 Malaysians.

To date, a total of 447 individuals have been screened, with 269 detected negative and 46 individuals still awaiting results.

"In this regard, the shopping mall has been closed from Oct 11 until tomorrow (Oct 16) for disinfection and cleaning purposes. Close contact screening and active case tracking for this cluster will be continued by the District Health Office involved,” he said.

-- BERNAMA