COVID: 1,063 new cases on March 16, lowest for the year - Health DG

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia recorded 1,063 new COVID-19 positive cases in the past 24 hours, which is the lowest figure reported so far this year, to take the country’s case tally to 326,034.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said that of today’s total, four were imported cases infected abroad while 1,059 were local transmissions.

“All four imported cases were foreigners while the local transmissions involved 814 Malaysians and 245 foreigners,” he said in a statement on COVID-19 today.

He said there were 1,365 recoveries, taking the total number of recoveries to 309,612.

Dr Noor Hisham also said that the three states with the highest number of cases were Selangor (323), Sarawak (183) and Penang (175).

He said there are now 15,204 active cases, with 152 patients being treated in the intensive care unit, with 68 of them requiring ventilator support.

He added that five fatalities were reported today, taking the death toll to 1,218. Today’s fatalities involved Malaysian men aged between 69 and 84, with each having a history of chronic illnesses.

Dr Noor Hisham also said that five new clusters were detected today, comprising three community and two workplace clusters, taking the total number of clusters in the country to 1,255, with 428 of them still active.

“The new community clusters are Jalan Kampung Hilir and Nanga Bulo in Sarawak and Banggol Chicha in Kelantan while the two workplace clusters are in Jalan Sanyan (Sarawak) and Jalan Taiping (Kuala Lumpur),” he said.

According to him, 827 clusters have ended so far, including eight today, namely Jalan Day, Package Pengerang, Permata Satu, Lasah, Jalan Sepanggar, Jalan Padi Mahsuri, Putra Tujuh and Kampung Parit Masjid

-- BERNAMA