Klang Valley now the Covid epicentre

Accounts for 493 of the total 1,309 cases recorded yesterday

KUALA LUMPUR: Klang Valley has become the new epicentre of the Covid-19 pandemic.

A total of 493 of the 1,309 new cases recorded as of noon yesterday were from Kuala Lumpur. Only one of the new cases was imported.

Nonetheless, the worst is not over yet for Sabah. The state came in second with a tally of 290 while Selangor was third with 238 new cases. Sarawak and Perlis are the only states without new cases.

With yesterday’s tally, the total number of cases in the country now stands at 64,485, of which 11,481 are active.

A total of 116 patients were being treated in intensive care units, with 42 requiring ventilator assistance.

The good news was there were more recoveries than new cases. A total of 1,333 patients were discharged from hospital, bringing the number of recoveries to 52,647.

Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said three more succumbed to the disease, taking the death toll to 357. The fatalities were a woman in Sabah and a man each from Perak and Negri Sembilan.

The ministry also reported four new clusters. They are the Sungai Mulia construction site cluster in Kuala Lumpur, Batu Lima cluster in Sabah, Yayasan cluster in Selangor and Hilir cluster in Kelantan.

Senior Minister (Security) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the enhanced movement control order in Kampung Numbak and the Telipok settlement in Kota Kinabalu, which was scheduled to end yesterday, has been extended to Dec 13.

He said the decision was based on a risk assessment conducted in the two areas by the Health Ministry.

“As of Nov 27, there still were 109 active cases in Kampung Numbak and 136 in Telipok,” he said. More residents in these two localities will be required to undergo screening.

Ismail Sabri said a total of 648 individuals were nabbed on Saturday for flouting the recovery movement control order. Among them, 594 were issued compounds and the remaining 54 were remanded.

Many people were still frequenting entertainment centres, with 331 arrested at various entertainment outlets.

Another 102 individuals were held for failing to observe social distancing, 65 for not wearing a face mask and 64 for crossing state or district boundaries illegally. Another 60, who were also arrested, were owners of business premises who failed to provide adequate facilities to record their customers’ personal details. The remaining 26 were nabbed for various other offences.

Ismail Sabri said 99 illegal immigrants and two skippers were apprehended, while two vehicles were seized in Ops Benteng.

He said since July 24 until yesterday, 77,211 individuals have returned and of the total, 10,611 individuals were undergoing mandatory quarantine, 405 individuals had been sent to hospitals for treatment while 66,195 were allowed to go home.

On Covid-19 public sanitisation operations yesterday, he said 25 such operations were conducted covering four red zones, four yellow zones and two green zones in two Federal Territories and five states. – Bernama