COVID: 45 new clusters, including 30 at workplaces - Health DG

KUALA LUMPUR: Forty-five new COVID-19 clusters were reported in Malaysia today, including 30 at workplaces, said Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

He said 11 clusters were in the community while two each were linked to high-risk groups and educational institutions.

"Selangor recorded the most workplace clusters with nine, followed by Johor (six), Penang and Kuala Lumpur (four each), Kelantan (three), Sarawak (two) and Terengganu and Pahang (one each)," he said in a statement.

Dr Noor Hisham said for community clusters, Kelantan had the most with three clusters, while Pahang and Sarawak had two each, and Johor, Negeri Sembilan, Perak and Sabah recorded one each.

He also said 318 deaths were reported today, including 93 brought-in-dead (BID) cases, which are the highest since the pandemic hit the country early last year.

He said there are now 237,021 active COVID-19 cases, including 1,059 patients in intensive care, 543 of whom require ventilators.

Dr Noor Hisham said 17,687 cases had recovered today, bringing the cumulative figure for recoveries to 1.09 million.

Of the record 21,668 new cases reported today, only 440 infections or 2.1 per cent were in categories three, four and five, he added.

He said 21,228 cases or 97.9 per cent were in categories one and two for mild cases.

Overall, only 2,720 or 12.6 per cent of the new cases had a history of vaccination, he said.

-- BERNAMA