KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 27): Ministry of Health (MoH) director-general (D-G) Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said there is a high probability that the Tawar and Sivagangga clusters, which emerged in Kedah, came from the same source.
However, investigations are still ongoing, he added.
On Tuesday, Noor Hisham said the ministry suspected that the Covid-19 cases from the Tawar cluster could have been caused by the highly infectious D614G mutation.
Today, he revealed that in virology research on the Tawar cluster conducted by the Institute for Medical Research together with the MoH, 14 samples had been taken for genome full sequencing.
Out of the 14 samples, four samples were confirmed to have D614G mutation.
"Four samples of Tawar cluster virus have been compared to the three samples of PUI Sivagangga cluster. It showed that all of these seven virus came from the same clade.
"This suggests that there is a high probability that Tawar and PUI Sivagangga clusters were from the same source. However, further investigations are still ongoing," said Noor Hisham at a media briefing today.
The D614G virus strain is 10 times more likely to infect other individuals and is easier to be transmitted by super spreaders.
There were no new cases reported in the Tawar cluster as of noon today, maintaining the number of positive cases in the cluster at 73.
Some 4,521 individuals in the cluster had been screened up until noon today, including 3,983 individuals in Kedah, 527 individuals in Penang, and the remaining 11 individuals in Perak.
Noor Hisham said the first case of this cluster was reported on Aug 12 to the Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre.
Within two weeks, there were 72 positive cases detected in the cluster, bringing the positivity rate to 1.61%.
"The cluster involves three generations where the first generation has 29 cases, while the second generation has 23 cases, and the remaining 20 cases involve the third generation," said Noor Hisham.
"Thus, as announced by Senior Minister of Defence Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob earlier, it has been decided that an administrative Enhanced Movement Control Order will be executed in Aman Jaya, Kedah from 12.01am, Aug 28, 2020, until a time to be disclosed, involving three zones, namely Kenganga, Mawar and Melur," he added.
Meanwhile, the D-G also said the rate of infectivity, known as R-Nought or R0, stood at 0.74 as of yesterday. The R0 had risen from its lowest of 0.58 on Aug 4, as more clusters, including Tawar, emerged.
In comparison, the R0 peaked at 1.37 on July 22.
He further reminded the public to always adhere to the standard operating procedures to support the ministry's efforts to reduce the R0 in the country.
Malaysia registered five new Covid-19 cases and 16 new recoveries as of noon today.
The five new infections today brought the total number of cases in the country to 9,296 while total recoveries stood at 8,994.
Currently, there are 177 active cases that have been isolated and are being treated, down from the 188 cases registered yesterday.
In addition, deaths from Covid-19 in Malaysia remained at 125, translating into a fatality rate of 1.34%. It has been 27 days since a patient succumbed to the disease.
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Edited by Lam Jian Wyn