KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia had recorded 3,170 Covid-19 cases linked to interstate travels since Jan 1 this year, said Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
He said of the total, Kedah recorded the highest number of cases with 714 cases, followed by Perak with 582 cases, and Negeri Sembilan, 370 cases.
“The number of interstate clusters have also increased since the third wave started on Sept 20, 2020.
“Interstate cluster is a cluster that involves an index case, or the first case, who was infected with Covid-19 from a different state and subsequently caused local transmissions,” he said in a statement on Covid-19 development here yesterday.
Following the increase in the number of interstate clusters, the government had announced the implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO) and interstate travel restriction beginning from Jan 13.
After the restriction was in force for a few months, the number of daily new cases involving interstate clusters had shown a consistent decline, with the last cluster reported was on Jan 30 – namely the Tersat Cluster in Terengganu.
“To date, there are three active interstate clusters remaining – the Tembok Mempaga Cluster, Tembok Bukit Besi Cluster and Pasai Cluster,” said Dr Noor Hisham.
He said the interstate cases and clusters did not only resulted in the spread of infection to Green Zone areas, but activities such as going back to hometowns also increased the risk of infection to vulnerable groups such as senior citizens and children.
Therefore, he said the people must always comply with the stipulated standard operating procedures including the interstate travel ban – except for urgent matters, and in such cases, they must obtain permission from the police. — Bernama