Malaysia recorded a big jump in new COVID-19 positive cases to 62 cases today compared with only six cases reported yesterday.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said of the 62 new cases, 56 were local transmissions involving 30 Malaysians and 26 foreigners while only six were imported cases.

Elaborating on the 56 cases of local transmission, he said that 50 cases were from Benteng LD cluster with one case of severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) detected at Lahad Datu Hospital, Sabah.

Apart from that, four local transmissions detected in Kedah involving the Sungai cluster (two cases), the Telaga cluster screening (one case); and symptomatic screening at a dental clinic in Alor Setar (one case) as well as another case reported in Penang involving a close contact screening case related to case 9397.

The latest developments bring the total number of positive COVID-19 cases in Malaysia to 9,459 cases with active cases with infectivity standing at 207, he said in a statement on the development of COVID-19, here today.

On active cases, Dr Noor Hisham said that six positive cases were being treated at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) with four of them in need of respiratory assistance. Nine cases have recovered and no COVID-19-related death was reported today.

Commenting on the Benteng LD Cluster, Dr Noor Hisham said thus far, the cluster has recorded 66 positive COVID-19 cases with 64 cases involving detainees while the remaining two cases were a prison officer and his relative.

He said based on the risk analysis carried out, the narrow confinement space that made it difficult to observe physical distancing, was the main contributor to the transmission of COVID-19 infection.

Six imported cases reported today involved two Malaysians and four foreigners who arrived from Turkey, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Egypt.

Meanwhile, a total of 1,404 individuals were screened at two districts in Sabah, namely, Lahad Datu and Tawau, involving a total of 631 detainees, 98 prison staff, 157 family members of staff and prisoners, 78 policemen and 440 officers from other government agencies.

-- BERNAMA