KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry has recorded a total of 26 new Covid-19 cases as of noon today, bringing the overall tally to 9,175 and active cases at 219.
Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the ministry also detected a new cluster, named "Sala" in Yan, Kedah.
In a statement, he said of the total cases recorded today, 23 were locally transmitted while the remaining three were imported.
"The three imported cases were recorded in Kuala Lumpur, involving a foreigner returning from the United States and two Malaysians from Vietnam and Austria.
"Of the 23 local cases, 20 are Malaysians and three foreigners."
On the local transmissions, Dr Noor Hisham said 14 were recorded in Kedah – three from the new Sala cluster, 10 were from the Tawar cluster in Baling and one from the new Muda cluster.
Other cases, he said, were recorded in Kuala Lumpur (one detected during a workplace screening and another a close contact of Case-8688), Penang (two people screened for Tawar cluster as they were close contacts of Case-9113), Johor (one case screened before surgery) and Perlis (one screened before surgery).
He said the three cases involving foreigners were from Negri Sembilan (two undocumented foreigners screened) and Kuala Lumpur (one detected during a workplace screening).
He said three more patients had recovered and discharged from hospitals today, bringing the current rate of recoveries to 8,831 (96.3 per cent of the total cases).
"Six patients are being treated in the intensive care unit and one placed on ventilator support.
"No fatalities from the virus were reported to the Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre (CPRC) as at noon today, keeping the death toll at 125 (1.36 per cent)."
On the Sala cluster in Yan, Kedah, Dr Noor Hisham said the index case - Case-9148 - detected there involved a Malaysian man who tested positive for Covid-19 on Aug 13 through the Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) clinical surveillance at Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital.
"Active Case Detection and screening of close contacts were conducted on Aug 14 and cases were detected positive Aug 15. All three cases reported today were family members of the index case.
"Up until Aug 15, 80 of his close contacts were screened and of this, four positive cases were detected, and 76 are still waiting for the results.
"All those involved in this cluster are Malaysians. Active case detection is ongoing and sanitising activities are being carried out at the locations identified. The source of infection is still under investigation."
On the Tawar cluster, Dr Noor Hisham said 12 new cases were reported today, comprising the 10 cases in Kedah and two in Penang. This, he said, brings the total number of Covid-19 positive cases for the Tawar cluster to 33.
"Up to Aug 15, a total of 657 individuals have been screened – 520 in Kedah (20 positives, 472 negative and 18 awaiting results), 129 in Penang (three positives, 119 negative and seven awaiting results) and eight in Perak (eight awaiting results, no positive cases detected)."
On the Muda cluster, he said 133 people have been screened until Aug 15, of which three were returned positive and 27 negative, while the remaining 103 individuals were awaiting results.