Malaysia recorded 23 new COVID-19 cases today, and the detection of the new Pulau Cluster in Sabah.

Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the 23 cases comprised 13 local and 10 import cases, which raised the cumulative number of cases to 9,969 with the infectivity potential at 632.

He said the 13 local cases were all in Sabah, involving 10 Malaysians and three non-citizens.

“Eight of them are from the new Pulau Cluster, four from the Benteng LD Cluster (including the three non-citizens) and one case for screening referred from the Semporna Hospital to the Tawau Hospital,” he told a press conference on the COVID-19 situation, here.

The import cases comprise people who got infected abroad, namely four from the Philippines and one each from Hungary, Turkey, Qatar, Bangladesh, Nigeria and Morocco.

Six recoveries were recorded today, raising the cumulative number of recoveries to 9,209 cases or 92.4 per cent of the total number of cases. No new deaths were reported today, with the death toll remaining at 128 cases.

Dr Noor Hisham said 14 cases are under treatment in intensive care, and four of them are intubated.

Elaborating on the Pulau Cluster, he said the index case is a 68-year-old Malaysian woman who was found unconscious at her home and rushed to the Kunak Hospital.

"She was then referred to the Tawau Hospital for treatment of a heart attack, stroke and liver disease and a COVID-19 screening showed up positive on Sept 13.

"She is under treatment in intensive care and is intubated,” he said.

Dr Noor Hisham said that following screening of close contacts and active case detection, eight more positive cases were detected among family members.

So far, 128 people have been screened in association with the cluster, comprising 109 Malaysians and 19 non-citizens, he said.

He also said that preventive measures to check the spread of COVID-19, such as sanitisation and cleansing, had been carried out at identified locations.

The source of the infection is still under investigation and measures to check the spread of infection from the cluster has been intensified in the field, he said.

On the Benteng LD Cluster, he said the four new cases recorded today raised the number of cases in the cluster to 424.

-- BERNAMA