3,744 new cases detected with almost half from Selangor

PUTRAJAYA: The number of new Covid-19 infections surged to 3,744 cases with nearly half of them coming from Selangor.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said Selangor recorded 1,548 new cases or 41.3% of the country’s total in the past 24 hours.

“A total of 1,051 of the cases in Selangor were uncovered from clusters and contact tracing.

“Another 495 cases are sporadic and detected through screening,” he said in a press statement.

Malaysia’s cumulative Covid-19 infections now stand at 424,376 cases.

Six other states recorded threedigit figures – Kelantan with 480 cases, Sarawak (419), Kuala Lumpur (313), Johor (292), Penang (195) and Kedah (124). There are now 32,939 active cases in the country.

Dr Noor Hisham also said 17 more people died of Covid-19, pushing the death toll to 1,591.

The fatalities were all Malaysians, aged between 42 and 84.

“Nine were from Selangor, two each in Sarawak, Perak and Johor and one each in Kelantan and Negri Sembilan.

“Most of them have underlying conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure. There were two cases declared as ‘dead on arrival’,” he said.

Currently, 328 patients are being treated at intensive care units nationwide with 185 of them needing ventilator support.

A total of 20 new clusters were detected, bringing the number of active ones to 411.