COVID-19: Malaysia records over 800 cases for third straight day - Health D-G

PUTRAJAYA: PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia recorded more than 800 COVID-19 cases daily for the third straight day when 865 cases were reported today, taking the cumulative total number of cases to 21,363, said Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

He said the latest development took the tally for active cases with infectivity potential to 7,456.

He also said that three fatalities were reported today, all in Sabah, taking the cumulative death toll to 190.

Apart from that, he also announced that there were 455 recoveries today, taking the cumulative recovery tally to 13,717 or 64.2 percent of the total number of cases.

“The breakdown of COVID-19 recovery cases is as follows: Sabah (226 cases); Selangor (107); Kedah (97); Johor (13); Terengganu (five); Negeri Sembilan (three); Sarawak (two); Pahang and Labuan (one each),” he said at a media conference on the latest COVID-19 developments here today.

Dr Noor Hisham said that of the 865 new cases, seven were import cases who got infected abroad, including three Malaysians, namely from China (four cases in Selangor), Australia (one case in Kuala Lumpur), the United States (one case in Selangor) and Qatar (one case in Selangor).

Of the 858 local transmissions, he said 767 cases involved Malaysians, with five being returnees from Sabah, bringing the number of cases with a travel history to the state since Sept 20 to 448.

According to him, Sabah continued to record the highest number of cases with 643 (74.3 per cent), with more laboratory tests being conducted in the state and sent to the Peninsular Malaysia, while states in the Klang Valley account for 13.5 per cent of the total number of cases.

Detailing the local transmissions, Dr Noor Hisham said that apart from Sabah, with 643 cases, Selangor recorded 101 cases, Labuan (34 cases), Penang (26), Perak (18), Melaka (16), Kuala Lumpur (six), Negeri Sembilan (four), Kedah (three), Putrajaya (three), Johor (two), Pahang (one) and Terengganu (one).

Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham said that overall, a total of 154 cases (17.8 per cent) today were from the Kepayan Prison Cluster, Seberang Perai Prison Cluster, Tembok Cluster and includes four Tapah Prison detainee screening cases.

“These cases are isolated in the prison and do not infect the community,” he said, adding that so far 99 cases are being treated in the intensive care unit, with 32 requiring ventilator support.

The Health Ministry also identified two new clusters, taking the number of active clusters in the country to 87.

-- BERNAMA