New Covid-19 cases drop below 5,000 mark after three days to 4,214, with 10 deaths

PETALING JAYA: The health ministry has reported 4,214 Covid-19 cases and 10 deaths in the past 24 hours.

Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said there were 4,280 recoveries, bringing the total number of those discharged to 170,329.

In a statement, Noor Hisham said the total number of infections now stands at 219,173.

There are 48,074 active cases with 316 patients being treated in intensive care and 137 requiring respiratory assistance.

Meanwhile, the 10 deaths take the death toll to 770.

The new cases today involved 4,205 local infections and nine imported cases.

Selangor recorded the highest number of cases today with 1,362, while Johor also reported four-digit infections (1,068).

States and federal territories that recorded three-digit infections comprised Kuala Lumpur (702), Sabah (276), Perak (193), Penang (119) and Sarawak (105).

They were followed by Negeri Sembilan (91), Melaka (85), Kelantan (57), Pahang (54), Kedah (47), Terengganu (38), Putrajaya (10) and Labuan (7). Perlis did not report any cases today.

There were 115 cases from prisons and detention centres, most of which came from the Tembok Taiping prison cluster (81 cases).

The 10 dead today were all Malaysians, aged between 26 and 87. All but two of them had existing medical conditions.

Earlier today, Dr Noor Hisham had announced that the first batch of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is expected to arrive on Feb 26.

He told Bernama the vaccine will be distributed in stages to the states within a week or two of arrival.

Malaysia has purchased 12.8 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and has committed to purchase an additional 12.2 million doses of the same vaccine.

In the meantime, he said that to date, a total of 141 volunteers have received injections in the Phase 3 clinical trials for COVID-19 vaccine developed and sponsored by China’s Institute of Medical Biology Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (IMBCAMS).

They were among the 3,000 volunteers, aged 18 and above, who were selected for the trials.

He also hoped that the late reporting of cases to the National Crisis Preparedness and Emergency Response Centre (CPRC) of the Ministry of Health (MOH), which led to the spike of numbers in recent days, would be resolved within a week.

The health ministry has detected 14 new Covid-19 clusters in the past 24 hours, health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said today.

In a statement, he said nine of them were workplace clusters, three involved high-risk groups while another two were community clusters.

Three clusters were detected each in Sabah, Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, two in Perak, and one each in Johor, Sarawak and Negeri Sembilan.

The Jalan Lagoon construction site cluster is a workplace cluster in Petaling, Selangor, with its index cases testing positive on Feb 1 after a targeted screening in Jalan Lagoon Selatan. A total of 880 people have been screened with 76 found positive.

The Industri Puchong cluster in Petaling is also a workplace cluster, with the first few cases found positive on Feb 1 through a targeted screening on a factory in Taman Perindustrian Puchong. Some 200 individuals have been screened with 44 testing positive.

The Sungai Purun cluster is a high-risk group cluster involving the districts of Hulu Langat and Petaling. The index case tested positive on Feb 1 after a close contact screening. Other cases in this cluster involve staff and residents at a care home in Kampung Sungai Purun, Semenyih. A total of 44 people have been screened with 27 found positive.

The Kampung Parit Masjid cluster is a workplace cluster in Muar, Johor, with its index cases testing positive on Feb 1 through a targeted screening on a factory. Its name refers to Kampung Parit Masjid in Bukit Pasir, where the workers’ dormitory is located. Some 183 individuals have been screened with 44 testing positive.

The Jalan Puchong construction site cluster is a workplace cluster in Lembah Pantai, Kuala Lumpur. The first few cases tested positive on Feb 1 after a targeted screening on a construction site along Japan Puchong. So far, 553 people have been screened and 332 have tested positive.

The Jalan Empat cluster is a high-risk group cluster in Titiwangsa, Kuala Lumpur and involves staff at a medical centre in Wangsa Maju. The index case tested positive on Feb 1 after exhibiting symptoms. A total of 89 people have been screened, with 29 testing positive.

The Jalan Tan cluster is another high-risk group cluster in Lembah Pantai, with its index cases testing positive on Feb 1 after a targeted screening on an old folk’s home in Taman Tan Yew Lai. Some 31 people have been screened, with 17 found positive.

The Ladang Sungai Pin cluster is a workplace cluster in Kinabatangan, Sabah. The first few cases for this cluster tested on Jan 27 through a targeted screening on a factory in Sungai Pin. All of the 36 people screened have tested positive.

The Kampung Samin cluster is a community cluster involving the districts of Sipitang, Kota Belud and Tuaran in Sabah. The index case tested positive on Jan 28 through a symptomatic screening. Other cases in this cluster had attended a gathering in Kampung Samin, Sipitang. Of the 121 people screened so far, 33 were found positive.

The Padas Damit cluster is also a community cluster in Beaufort, Sabah, with the first case found positive on Jan 25 after a symptomatic screening. The other cases in this cluster had attended a gathering in Kampung Shahbandar, Padas Damit. A total of 160 individuals were screened, of which 32 tested positive.

The Persiaran Daya cluster is a workplace cluster in Manjung, Perak. The index case tested positive on Jan 29 after a symptomatic screening. The cluster also involves factory workers in Kampung Acheh. So far, 95 people have been screened and 18 were found positive.

The Lapangan Siber cluster is a workplace cluster in Kinta, Perak, with its index case found positive on Jan 21 through a symptomatic screening. This cluster also involves factory workers from the Pengkalan industrial area, Ipoh. A total of 50 people have been screened and 21 tested positive.

The Bintang Daily cluster is a workplace cluster in Meradong, Sarawak. The first case tested positive on Jan 26 after a symptomatic screening, and the name of the cluster refers to the index case’s workplace and area of residence in Taman Bintang, Bintangor. Some 46 people were screened, with eight found positive.

The Nilam Tiga cluster is a workplace cluster in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan. The index case tested positive on Jan 9 through a symptomatic screening. The cluster involves workers at a factory in Jalan Nilam 3, Bandar Utama Nilai. So far, 237 have been screened, with 63 testing positive.

Five clusters have officially ended today, namely the Tembok, GK Tawau, Sentosa Residensi, Menara Wang and Maringkan clusters. There are now 401 active clusters out of the 831 reported.

Clusters that reported the most infections today are the Jalan Puchong construction site (322), Jalan Chulan construction site (85) and Tembok Taiping (81) clusters.