KUALA LUMPUR, March 6 — The Health Ministry has today confirmed 28 new cases of Covid-19, making it a total of 83 positive cases reported in the country to date.
Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said as of noon today, the 56th up to 83rd cases were reported to the National Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre, with all 28 cases undergoing further treatment.
“The close contacts have also been identified for investigation and further sample collection. At present, 956 individuals have been identified as close contacts,” he said in a statement.
Of the 956, 258 of them are related to Case 26’s cluster, and samples have been taken. Dr Noor Hisham said from this cluster, 18 have tested positive for the virus and 70 negative, with the latter placed under monitoring and observation at home for 14 days.
28 kes baru dilaporkan hari ini menjadikan 83 kes keseluruhan setakat ini.
— KKMPutrajaya (@KKMPutrajaya) March 6, 2020
Pengesanan kontak masih dijalankan oleh pasukan kesihatan KKM di lapangan.
Penularan jangkitan #COVIDー19
di Malaysia masih terkawal dan berada tahap pembendungan awal (early containment). pic.twitter.com/GcY6BYanmA
“Another 170 of the cluster have been traced and are awaiting laboratory results. They have also been placed under monitoring and observation at home,” he said.
Dr Noor Hisham said the ministry has conducted Covid-19 surveillance to trace sporadic cases and local cases of patients in Malaysia with influenza-like-illness and severe acute respiratory infection who have not travelled to affected countries or had any contact with positive Covid-19 cases.
He added that as of today, 430 samples related to this surveillance activity have been tested and none have come back positive with the virus. This means no sporadic Covid-19 cases have been detected.
Separately, Dr Noor Hisham also confirmed Case 24 has recovered and has been discharged from Hospital Kuala Lumpur.
“All close contacts for this case have been traced, and Case 24’s cluster has been successfully countered, making this the 23rd patient to fully recover and be discharged,” Dr Noor Hisham said.
The past week has seen a spike in Covid-19 positive cases in Malaysia, with seven new cases on Tuesday, 14 on Wednesday, and five more yesterday.
