On Monday (23 November), Malaysians were treated to some shocking news after the number of cases reached an all-time high of 1,884 cases.

Out of the total, Selangor took the top place with 1,203 cases with the majority of the cases originating from the Teratai Cluster linked to the Top Glove factory in Klang.

1,067 cases in Selangor were from the Teratai Cluster, and the data behind it revealed by Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah were pretty alarming.

From factory to community

This is very worrying.

According to the New Straits Times, the Teratai Cluster has an infection rate of 43.8 per cent.

Dr Noor Hisham said the rapid increase in cases since the start of the cluster on 7 November had accumulated to 2,542.

But what’s worrying is that the infection has spread out of the factory and into the community.

"The virus has spread beyond the factory workers' circle. We found there are 71 cases or 2.8 per cent stemming from close contacts of the workers, such as their families members,” Noor Hisham said.


The majority of cases from the cluster were from foreign workers.
"There are workers who are not staying at the worker's dormitories but at their own houses.”

"From the total, 162 are locals while 2,360 are foreign workers. Factory workers made up 2,453 cases or 97.2 per cent from the total cases recorded in the cluster.”

He also added that those who were infected in the Teratai Cluster were aged between two to 68 years old.

The Health Ministry is currently conducting close contact tracing and mass testing for 13,000 Top Glove employees.

We hope the chain of infection is broken soon!