COVID: Record-high 45 fatalities Monday - Health DG

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, in a statement said that Selangor recorded the highest number of fatalities at 20, followed by four each in Kuala Lumpur and Kelantan, Kedah (three), Perak (three), Johor (three), Negeri Sembilan (two), Melaka (two) and one each in Pahang, Penang, Sarawak and Sabah.

The deaths involved individuals aged between 36 and 90.

Malaysia recorded 44 deaths from COVID-19 two days ago, while 36 fatalities were reported yesterday.

Selangor reported the highest daily infections with 1,650 cases, followed by Sarawak (433), Johor (391) Kelantan (343) Kuala Lumpur (297), Negeri Sembilan (243), Kedah (236), Perak (203), Terengganu (201), Penang (159), Pahang (139), Melaka (80), Sabah (60), Putrajaya (11), while Perlis and Labuan did not record any new cases.

Dr Noor Hisham said that 522 patients are currently being treated in the intensive care units (ICU), with 273 of them requiring ventilator support, while the total number of active cases stood at 43,506.

He said 14 new clusters were detected today with seven involving the community, four religious-related clusters and three at workplaces.

The community clusters were the Taman Repek Cluster (Kelantan); Kampung Kual Cluster (Kelantan); Kampung Perah Cluster (Kelantan); Kampung Paya Teh Cluster (Pahang); Taman Jati Cluster (Pahang), Jalan Jambusan Cluster (Sarawak) and Jalan Imam Jalilul Cluster (Sabah).

The religious cluster identified were the Kundang Jaya Cluster (Selangor); Parit Kassan Jegol Cluster (Johor); Sungai Langgas Cluster (Sabah) and Jalan Kuak Luar Cluster (Perak and Kuala Lumpur).

He said the three workplace clusters were the Jalan Jambu Bol Cluster (Selangor); Dah Serdang Cluster (Kedah) and Jalan Kusta Cluster (Selangor).

Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham said the genomic surveillance conducted by the Institute for Medical Research (IMR) on 10 COVID-19 samples from May 10 to 14 has detected seven more cases linked to variants of concern (VOC) in the country.

He said four of the cases involved locals who were infected with the South African B.1.351 variant in Kuala Lumpur, while three other cases involved foreigners who had contracted the Indian B.1.617 variant.

This brought the total number of cases involving the South African variant B.1.351 to 66, he added.

Dr Noor Hisham said since April 28, the government has extended the mandatory quarantine period for all travellers from countries with VOC transmissions to 14 days.

An entry ban on non-Malaysian travellers from India has also been imposed since May 7.

Dr Noor Hisham also advised the public to remain vigilant and strictly follow the various advice of the Health Ministry.