New COVID-19 cases dip below 2,000 for third straight day - Health DG

KUALA LUMPUR: The country today reported 1,529 new COVID-19 cases, the third straight day daily cases dipped below the 2,000 mark since March 4.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said Selangor, with 726 new infections, continued to report the highest number of cases, followed by Sarawak (252); Johor (120); Negeri Sembilan (89); Penang (76) while Sabah and Kuala Lumpur each reported 71 cases.

In a Twitter post, he said Perak reported 49 cases; Kelantan (28); Perlis (17); Terengganu (13); Kedah (nine); Melaka (four); Pahang (three); Putrajaya (one) while Labuan had no new cases.

Meanwhile, in a media statement, Dr Noor Hisham said of the new cases, nine were imported involving three Malaysians and six foreigners, while the 1,520 local transmissions involved 1,177 Malaysians and 343 foreigners.

Also, he said there were 2,076 recoveries, which brings the recovery case tally to 294,034, while also adding that there are now 19,778 active cases.

Despite improvements in the COVID-19 situation, another eight deaths were reported overnight, Dr Noor Hisham said they involved seven Malaysians and a foreigner, all aged between 61 and 89.

Meanwhile, four new clusters were also identified today, three involving workplaces and one in the community.

The new workplace clusters were two in Johor namely Cyber 72 and Jalan i-Park Tiga, Jalan Loke Yew in Kuala Lumpur while Bukit Bayas was the community-based cluster identified in Terengganu.

This brings the number of total clusters in the country to 1,203, of which 467 are active clusters, Dr Noor Hisham said.

Also, nine clusters ended today, taking the total number of ended clusters to 736.

-- BERNAMA