COVID-19: M'sia records four figures for first time with 1,228 new cases

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia recorded its highest spike of new COVID-19 cases in a day today, breaking the four-digit barrier with 1,228 cases.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said Sabah still recorded the highest number of cases at 889, or 72.4 per cent of the total nationwide.

However, he assured that there was still enough capacity in hospitals and COVID-19 Low-Risk Quarantine and Treatment Centres (PKRC) to accommodate the number of positive cases in the state.

“This brings the total number of positive COVID-19 cases in Malaysia to 25,742 cases. Thus, the total number of active COVID-19 cases with infectivity is 8,966. They have been segregated and given treatment," said Dr Noor Hisham during his press conference on COVID-19 today.

Meanwhile, he said 502 of the cases today comprised of detainees from the Kepayan Prison Cluster, Seberang Perai Prison Cluster, Remand Prison Cluster and Tembok Cluster - all of whom are isolated from the public at large.

Two new cases detected today were found to have returned from Sabah, taking the total number of cases with a history of travel to Sabah since Sept 20 to 468 cases, he added.

According to Dr Noor Hisham, of the total number of cases today, 11 were import cases recorded in Kuala Lumpur, involving three citizens and eight non-citizens, with three cases recorded from those arriving from Singapore, Indonesia (3); China (2); South Korea (2); and Tunisia (1).

The rest, he said, were local transmissions, with 889 in Sabah; Negeri Sembilan (96), Selangor (76), Kedah (76), Penang (23), Federal Territory of Labuan (21), Perak (10) , Sarawak (8), Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur (8), Johor (7) and Melaka (3).

Dr Noor Hisham said there were 671 recoveries recorded today, taking the cumulative number of cases that had fully recovered to 16,555, which is 64.3 per cent of the total number of cases.

There are 92 cases being treated at the Intensive Care Unit, of which 31 cases require respiratory assistance.

"From the latest information reported to the National Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre, I am sad to inform you that there have been seven more COVID-19-related deaths, taking the total number of casualties due to the disease in Malaysia to 221," he said.

-- BERNAMA