KUALA LUMPUR: Education clusters make up almost two-thirds of active Covid-19 clusters in the country.

Malaysia has detected 643 clusters since this year began, and of that, 407 were clusters linked to educational institutions.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said, workplace clusters were the second highest (133), followed by high-risk group clusters (49), community clusters (28), import clusters (12), detention clusters (10) and religious clusters (four).

However, he noted that the overall number of clusters reported in the eighth epidemiological week (Feb 20 – Feb 26) dropped by 48 clusters (40.7 per cent).  

Compared to the 118 clusters reported in the seventh epidemiological week, the eighth epidemiological week only recorded 70 clusters.

While education clusters and detention clusters have dropped, Dr Noor Hisham said, high-risk group clusters and community clusters recorded a slight increase.

Workplace clusters, meanwhile, remained the same (14 clusters) during the seventh and the eighth epidemiological weeks.

No imported clusters or religious clusters were reported in the seventh and eighth epidemiological week.

As for workplace clusters, Dr Noor Hisham said, majority of them were identified in the manufacturing sector (52), service sector (41), public sector (30), agricultural sector (five), construction sector (three), as well as mining and quarry sector (two).

Since Jan 25, 2020 until Feb 26, 2022, Dr Noor Hisham said 63 per cent of Covid-19 infections detected at workplaces (or 201,281 cases) involved foreign workers.

Based on investigations, he said, the biggest contributor of workplace clusters is transmission at workplace (56.8 per cent), followed by workers' hostels (29.08 per cent), "kongsi" houses (13.38 per cent), other places (0.51 per cent) and rental places (0.23 per cent).