1,704 new Covid cases

PETALING JAYA: The Health Ministry has reported 1,704 Covid-19 cases and 11 deaths in the past 24 hours.

Health Director-General Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said there were 2,726 recoveries, bringing the total number of those discharged to 97,218.

In a statement, Noor Hisham said the total number of infections now stands at 119,077.

ADVERTISEMENT

There are 21,365 active cases with 124 patients being treated in intensive care and 51 requiring respiratory assistance.

Meanwhile, the 11 deaths bring the death toll to 494.

The 11 dead comprised 10 Malaysians and a foreigner.

The 58-year-old foreigner was only found to be positive at Hospital Queen Elizabeth, Sabah, after his body was brought there.

The Malaysians who died were aged between 53 and 77, with most of them suffering from pre-existing medical conditions, such as diabetes, high blood pressure and asthma. Two of them did not have a history of medical conditions.

Of the new infections Sunday, five were imported cases while the remaining 1,699 were local transmissions.

Selangor continued to record the highest number of cases with 673, while the other states that reported triple-digit infections were Sabah (316), Johor (179), Kuala Lumpur (112) and Penang (103).

They were followed by Perak (75), Negeri Sembilan (72), Kedah (53), Kelantan (47), Pahang (21), Putrajaya (17), Labuan (16), Sarawak (10), Melaka (6) and Terengganu (4). No cases were reported in Perlis.

These new infections came from new and existing clusters as well as close contact tracing and other Covid-19 screenings.

ADVERTISEMENT

Prison and detention centre clusters only had 74 cases Sunday, most of which came from the Jalan Harapan Prison cluster, which had 56 cases.

Meanwhile, two sub-districts in Kota Bharu, Kelantan, will be placed under the conditional movement control order (CMCO) from today (Monday).

Senior Minister for Security Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the CMCO became necessary following the increase in the number of cases in the Peringat and Kota sub-districts.

The CMCO is scheduled to end on Jan 17.

“The health ministry confirmed an increase in the number of cases in both sub-districts, which have led to two Covid-19 clusters, namely Halban and Pintu Geng,” Ismail said in his daily statement.

He said the CMCO would enable the health ministry to conduct targeted screening among the communities in Peringat and Kota.

In another development, Ismail said the government had decided to lift the enhanced movement control order (EMCO) at the Langkap immigration depot and its workers quarters in Perak from Sunday.

The lockdown was initially scheduled to end on Jan 14.

“The health ministry has completed its screenings of all detainees and staff in Langkap.

“They have also confirmed that the number of cases has decreased. There are no test samples waiting for results now,” Ismail said.

Meanwhile, Ismail said the authorities made 434 arrests on Saturday for offences related to MCO.

He added that 422 were slapped with compound fines while 12 were remanded.

They were arrested for attending nightclubs, failing to observe physical distancing, not wearing masks and failing to record customers’ details upon entering shops.

The authorities also arrested 43 undocumented migrants and one smuggler yesterday as part of their ongoing Op Benteng campaign. They also seized five vehicles in their operations.

Ismail said that 96,924 people had arrived through KLIA from July 24, 2020 till Jan 2 this year from various countries.

A total of 540 people were sent to hospital for treatment, 88,894 were allowed to return home, while 7,490 are currently undergoing the mandatory quarantine.