New COVID-19 cases drop slightly to 5,586 - Health DG

KUALA LUMPUR: New COVID-19 cases in Malaysia dropped slightly to 5,586 in the last 24 hours from 5,803 yesterday, said Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

In a posting on Twitter today, he said this brought the cumulative figure for positive cases to 734,048 since the outbreak early last year.

Dr Noor Hisham said Selangor again the topped the daily case list with 2,212 infections, followed by Kuala Lumpur (628), Sarawak (513), Negeri Sembilan (501), Melaka (380), Johor (312), Perak (229), Sabah (190), Penang (138) and Kelantan (133).

Kedah recorded 129 cases, Pahang (118), Labuan (83), Terengganu (16) and Putrajaya (four) while Perlis had none.

Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham, in a statement, said out of the 5,586 new cases, three were imported cases while 5,583 were local transmission.

He said that a total of 4,777 recovered cases were recorded, bringing the cumulative total of recoveries to 667,709.

"Active cases are currently recorded at 61,395, while the number of COVID-19 patients treated in the intensive care unit (ICU) is 886 people, including 446 of them who need respiratory assistance," he said.

Dr Noor Hisham also said that another 60 deaths due to COVID-19 were reported, involving 52 Malaysians and eight foreigners, aged between 20 and 88, with the majority suffering from chronic diseases, making the total number of victims due to the outbreak now 4,944.

A total of 17 new clusters were detected today, with nine of them involving transmission in the workplace, six clusters involving the community and one cluster each involving a detention centre and a high-risk group.

The new workplace clusters recorded are four in Selangor, namely, Industri Rawang Bestari Cluster; Industri Kampung Sungai Bakau Cluster; Tapak Bina Jade Cluster and Industri Jalan Sungai Tua Cluster.

The other four workplace clusters detected in Kuala Lumpur are Tapak Bina Jalan Kuching Cluster; Tapak Bina Jalan Residen Dua Cluster; Tapak Bina Jalan Kiara Lima Cluster and Tapak Bina Jalan Belfield Cluster, while another cluster reported in Johor is Pekeliling Tanjung 27 Cluster.

The community clusters are Murni Sepang (Selangor); Linau Kumpang (Sabah); Bata Durok Quarters (Sabah); Kampung Gong Depu (Kelantan); Kampung Melor Lama (Kelantan) and Jalan 12 Kampar (Perak).

Other clusters are the Tembok Kota Kinabalu detention centre (Sabah) and the Jalan Stampin (Sarawak), a high-risk group cluster.

"The latest developments bring the total number of clusters to 2,772, with 874 active clusters," he said.

-- BERNAMA