KUALA LUMPUR (July 13): The Ministry of Health (MoH) has detected a new cluster in Melaka called the PUI Novgorod cluster with three confirmed infections.

Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the new cluster was detected when a third positive Covid-19 case (patient No 8,718) was detected after a screening of close contacts of the second case from this cluster.

"The first case of this cluster was a Malaysian (patient No 8,673) who returned from Russia on July 5, 2020. Covid-19 screening at the international entrance revealed that the patient was positive [for Covid-19] and admitted to Sungai Buloh Hospital.

"The second case [of this cluster], which is patient No 8,718, is a friend to patient No 8,673. They boarded the same plane on July 5, 2020," said Noor Hisham in his statement.

Covid-19 screening for patient No 8,718 at the international entrance yielded a negative result, but on July 7, the patient had a fever and experienced breathing difficulty.

After another test, the patient was found to have been infected by the virus.

Meanwhile, the third patient in this cluster is the father of patient No 8,718, who was also found to have contracted the disease after having a fever.

So far, 14 close contacts have been traced and screened, but all of them test negative for Covid-19, Noor Hisham noted.

He added that investigations and contact-tracing activities are still ongoing.

Malaysia reported seven new Covid-19 cases today – six of which were imported – bringing the total cumulative cases in the country to 8,725.

The six imported cases involved two Malaysians and four permanent residents who were allowed to enter the country for work, according to Noor Hisham.

Meanwhile, the lone locally-transmitted infection involved a Malaysian and came from this newly-discovered PUI Novgorod cluster.