Johor blames high Covid numbers on backlog in cases

The Johor state health and environment committee says the high number of Covid-19 infections recorded in the state yesterday was due to a backlog in cases.

Johor recorded 2,785 new cases yesterday, the highest daily figure since the pandemic hit the country last year.

Committee chairman R Vidyananthan said 57.9% or 1,613 of the newly reported cases were cases that had been more than four days.

“The delay is due inaccurate or incomplete information provided, which makes it difficult to locate cases and carry out investigations in the field,” he said.

“On average, daily Covid-19 cases have been between 1,500 and 1,700 a day in the last two weeks,” he added in a statement.

As of yesterday, the total number of Covid-19 cases in the state was 128,666 with 1,774 deaths recorded.

Vidyananthan said an increase of cases in clusters also contributed to the rise with 10 new clusters reported yesterday involving five industrial clusters, two community clusters and three institution-linked clusters in Johor Bahru, Kulai, Kota Tinggi and Kluang.

“Industrial clusters accounted for 72% of the active clusters involving 12,201 cases. The high number of positive close contacts, amounting to 1,228 cases, was recorded yesterday thus indicating weaknesses in compliance with existing SOPs,” he added.