COVID-19: Death toll in Malaysia rises to eight

The Health Ministry reported four new deaths from the coronavirus, raising the total death count in Malaysia to eight as of 6.30pm today.

Two of the cases were linked to the Sri Petaling mosque tabligh cluster while two cases involved a mother and daughter in Sarawak.

The latest victim, who passed away at 4pm, is a 69-year-old male linked to the tabligh cluster. He was admitted to Hospital Tumpat on March 16. He showed symptoms of fever since March 12 and was transferred to Hospital Raja Perempuan Zainab II, Kota Bharu after his condition deteriorated.

The seventh victim is a 57-year-old male with a history of travel to Vietnam and had contact with COVID-19 positive cases from the tabligh cluster. He was admitted to Hospital Kuala Lumpur after showing symptoms of fever, cough and sore throat for a week. His condition deteriorated and needed respiratory support the next day. He passed away today at 3.22 pm.

The victims in Sarawak were a 79-year-old woman and her 40-year-old daughter. Both were from Kuching.

The mother died at a private medical centre in Kuching at 2.00 am on March 18 while her daughter died at the Sarawak General Hospital today at 1.00 pm, according to a statement by the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee.

The statement said that the delay in reporting the death of the 79-year-old woman was because the private medical centre where she was warded had to wait for the test result from a private laboratory in Kuala Lumpur.

Another family member of the victims had tested positive for COVID- 19. He is still warded and is on life support at the Sarawak General Hospital.