COVID-19: MoH finds new tahfiz cluster in Melaka with four confirmed infections

KUALA LUMPUR (May 14): The Ministry of Health (MoH) has found a new infection cluster at the Solok Duku tahfiz school in Alor Gajah, Melaka, where four positive cases have been detected.

Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said 107 people from the cluster have undergone COVID-19 screening, comprising students, teachers and their family members.

Of the four found positive, two were among the 35 students screened, while the remainder two were found among the 62 family members tested.

None of the 10 teachers and staff of the school is positive so far, according to the Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

The new cluster was found through the Ministry's targeted approach and active case detection method, whereby samples for screening were taken from tahfiz schools, pondok schools and and all those who have had close contacts with the ones who had attended the tabligh assembly in Seri Petaling in February.

As of today, there are six infection clusters linked to tahfiz schools, of which four have been found to be sub-clusters of the assembly in Seri Petaling, while two more are still under investigation.

Besides the Solok Duku cluster, which is the newest cluster, the five other clusters are:

• Sungai Salan madrasah cluster in Pahang, with three new cases reported today, pushing the total to 84
• Sungai Lui madrasah cluster in Selangor, with a total of 172 cases
• Ayer Merbau madrasah cluster in Melaka, with 41 cases
• Lanchang tahfiz cluster in Pahang with 6 cases
• Penanti madrasah cluster in Penang with 6 cases

Thus far, the Ministry has identified 19,029 students, teachers and staff from 370 tahfiz schools across the country.

From the total, 64.5% or 12,384 have been screened and 635 people were found positive, while 10,755 turned out negative. The remainder 994 are still awaiting the results of their screening.

Based on the latest screening results, Dr Noor Hisham said the infection rate among this group, which has been identified as risky, stood at 5.1%, compared with last week's 4.4%.

"This increasing rate of infection is worrying because it shows an increasing probability that they are infecting others in this group," he said.

Further investigation by the Ministry also showed that of the 635 people found to be positive from this group, 84.9% or 539 did not have any respiratory symptoms.

"This may in turn lead to greater COVID-19 transmissions among their family members and the local community if preventive measures are not taken," he said.

In view of that, the Ministry urged students from tahfiz schools who had returned to their homes to contact the nearest Health District Office (PKD), clinic or hospital to undergo COVID-19 screening tests.

For those who have yet to return home, they are requested to remain at the madrasah or tahfiz centre, and to contact the nearest health district office or clinic for screening.

The Ministry also called on the management of the tahfiz and madrasah schools to cooperate and provide the relevant information about their students or staff to the nearest health district office so that the Ministry can conduct its screening based on the targeted approach.

Malaysia reported 40 new COVID-19 infections today, bringing the total cases detected in the country to 6,819.