New virus cases at 1,854 as Sarawak tops list

KUALA LUMPUR: The number of daily new Covid-19 cases is rising in Malaysia, with almost 2,000 infections recorded yesterday.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said 1,854 new Covid-19 cases were reported yesterday, higher than the 1,285 and 1,139 recorded on Thursday and Wednesday, respectively.

The new figure brings the total number of cases to 357,607, with 14,805 active cases nationwide.

Of the new cases, 20 were imported, involving five Malaysians and 15 non-citizens.

Dr Noor Hisham said Sarawak had the most new cases at 555, followed by Selangor (403) and Penang (176).

He said 417 of Sarawak’s new cases were from clusters and close contact screenings.

“Sarawak is seeing an increase in Covid-19 cases due to the emergence of community clusters, including those at longhouses.

“The contributing factors are crowds at gatherings and social activities, such as funerals, weddings and other celebrations.

“Today (yesterday), Sarawak reported two new community clusters, Sungai Gemuan and Disso.”

Five new Covid-19 deaths were reported yesterday — three in Sarawak and one each in Sabah and Kuala Lumpur. The deaths involved three Malaysians and two non-citizens, aged 32 to 69.

Dr Noor Hisham said 58 new cases were linked to prisons and Immigration detention centres, including the Jalan Harapan Prison (25), Tembok Muhasabah (13), Telok Mas (11), Tembok Pengkalan Chepa (four), Tembok Sri Aman (three), Tembok Tapah (one) and Sepang Immigration detention centre (one) clusters.

States that recorded three-digit rise in cases were Kelantan (143), Sabah (139), Kuala Lumpur (135) and Johor (103).

A total of 1,247 people recovered from Covid-19 yesterday, bringing the total number of recoveries to 341,489.

He said 169 patients were being treated at Intensive Care Units, with 79 on ventilator support.

The Health Ministry yesterday identified seven new Covid-19 clusters, with four at workplaces and three in the community.

The workplace clusters were in Sungai Kluang Satu, Penang; Jalan Ismail Sultan, Johor; Batu Lima Jalan Sibuga, Sabah; and, Lembah Pantai in Kuala Lumpur and Petaling in Selangor.

The Sungai Kluang Satu cluster originated from a factory in Hilir Sungai Kluang 1, Bayan Lepas Free Industrial Zone, Penang.

“This workplace cluster involves Barat Daya, Timur Laut, Seberang Prai Utara, Seberang Prai Tengah and Seberang Prai Selatan districts in Penang. The cluster has logged 79 positive cases out of 1,769 individuals screened.”

The Jalan Ismail Sultan cluster involving workers of a supermarket in Jalan Ismail Sultan, Gelang Patah, Johor Baru, had 36 cases.

The Batu Lima Jalan Sibuga cluster involving students and workers of an education centre in Sandakan had eight positive cases out of 144 people screened.

The Taman Bukit Pantai cluster involving students of an education centre in the same area was detected when the index case tested positive on April 7 via symptomatic screening. Of 74 people screened, 20 were positive.

The three community clusters were detected in Sungai Gemuan and Disso in Sarawak and SimSim in Sabah.