COVID-19: Back to double digits with 58 new cases - Health DG

The number of new COVID-19 cases in the country went back to double digits today after 58 cases were recorded, with 53 of them being local transmissions and five more imported.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said 29 of the local transmissions involved Malaysians while the rest were foreigners.

The imported cases, involving three Malaysians and two foreigners, were from Pakistan, India, Indonesia, Syria and the Philippines.

“There were 48 new cases in Sabah, of which 44 were from the LD cluster, three from the new Laut cluster and one more detected from pre-surgery screening at the Queen Elizabeth hospital in Kota Kinabalu,” he said in a statement here today, adding that 24 of those cases involved foreigners.

In Kedah, meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham said there are five new cases from the Sungai cluster, bringing the total number of active cases in the country to 551, adding that to date, there are nine cases being treated in the intensive care unit (ICU), with five of them requiring ventilator support.

The country’s COVID-19 death toll remains at 128 cases while a total of 9,189 patients have fully recovered, he added.

Dr Noor Hisham said with 44 news cases recorded, the Benteng LD cluster now has a total of 381 cases.

“Tawau district has 43 cases while one more was in Lahad Datu.

“This cluster involves 361 prison inmates and two prison staff, three contacts of staff and inmates’ family members and 15 social contacts,” he said.

Of the 381 positive cases in the cluster, 168 involve Malaysians while the rest were Filipinos (149 cases) and Indonesians (64 cases), Dr Noor Hisham said.

As for the Sungai cluster, there were five new cases from the 8,258 screened, with all five detected in Kedah, bringing the total to 55 cases, he said.

-- BERNAMA