3,297 new cases, 4,456 more recoveries – DG

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia reported 3,297 new Covid-19 infections and five fatalities yesterday.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said of the new cases, 3,291 were local transmissions, involving 1,402 Malaysians and 1,889 foreigners, while six were imported.

The country’s Covid-19 infection tally now stands at 283,569 cases, he said, adding that the recovery rate remained encouraging, with another 4,456 recoveries reported overnight, taking the tally of those recovered to 249,209 cases.

“The country’s death toll now stands at 1,056 cases, while 209 cases are being treated in the intensive care unit, 91 of them requiring respiratory support,” Dr Noor Hisham said in a statement on Covid-19 developments yesterday.

Dr Noor Hisham said the fatalities yesterday involved two cases each in Selangor and Terengganu and one in Kuala Lumpur, all of them aged from 29 to 82.

He said of the new cases, Perak reported the highest number with 1,215 infections, which he said was mostly due to an increase in cases in the Jalan Changkat Jong cluster (1,046 cases), followed by Selangor (868) and Johor (431).

In addition, he said 124 of the new cases were linked to prison and immigration depot clusters, involving the Tembok Tapah cluster (50 cases), Tembok Bendera (42), Tembok Sungai Udang (18), Telok Mas (5), Sungai Jelok Prison (5), Tembok Bukit Besi (2) and DTI Sepang 2 (2).

Dr Noor Hisham also said six new clusters were identified yesterday, all workplace-related, which takes the number of active clusters in the country to 510.

Five of the new clusters were detected in Johor, namely Jalan Persiaran Cemerlang, Jalan Cemerlang Besi, Jalan Kota Kulai, Jalan Kelapa Mawar and Jalan Pandan Ria, while the sixth was Perusahaan Baru in Penang.

Also, 82 clusters registered an increase in cases yesterday, with the highest coming from Jalan Changkat Jong (1,046 cases), Industri Selesa (171) and Tanjung Suria (97).

Meanwhile, he said six clusters ended yesterday, namely Mikro, Tasik Utama, Titian, Tapak Bina Jalan Wangsa, Kota Road and Tanjung Lumpur, raising the number of ended clusters to 564.