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KUALA LUMPUR – Contrary to Senior Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali’s insistence that factories are not to be blamed for the spike in Covid-19 numbers, it was revealed today that the majority of cluster cases in Selangor stem from the manufacturing sector.
Selangor Health Director Datuk Dr Sha’ari Ngadiman said this in a press conference, but stopped short of providing exact figures.
“We found that about 40% of cases in the state were identified via contact tracing, 22% tested positive after showing symptoms, while about 20% of cases are from workers’ clusters and another 14% from clusters unrelated to work.
“From the trend of cases, the biggest contributing cluster in Selangor is the manufacturing sector, followed by services, construction, businesses and finally the community.”
Dr Sha’ari added that unlike the increase in infections caused by Hari Raya Aidiladha travelling and visits over the past few weeks in other states, Selangor saw no such problem.
“We found that there is not one cluster related to the Hari Raya festival, meaning people of Selangor are very compliant to standard operating procedures (SOPs).”
Earlier in the presser, Deputy Director-General (Public Health) Datuk Dr Chong Chee Kheong had revealed that the Hari Raya celebration, as well as the easing of movement restrictions last month, had been the main contributor to the recent spike in infections.
Later, when asked to clarify on his statement, Dr Sha’ari said the cases from factories do not contribute to the majority of infections in the state, but merely make up the highest caseloads from identified clusters.
He added that based on checks conducted by the authorities, the majority of factories have been abiding by government SOPs, claiming infections could have stemmed at home or in workers’ dormitories instead.
“The cause is not from the factories. So why did the infections happen? Perhaps from outside the premises, and then they returned to the factories. Adherence from the sector has been very good.
Nonetheless, with a growing number of cases each day, Dr Sha’ari said the state has increased the number of beds in public hospitals by 1,506, to assist facilities in coping with increasing demand, among other things. – The Vibes, August 6, 2021
