1,199 new Covid cases and two fatalities

Kuala Lumpur: The daily Covid-19 new cases have dropped to below the 2,000 mark for three consecutive weeks, with 1,199 cases recorded Saturday with two fatalities, said Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

Dr Noor Hisham said within 24 hours 1,257 recoveries were reported bringing the number of active cases to 14,209.

“Of the total new cases today, 1,194 are local transmissions while five are imported cases, 161 cases are being treated in the Intensive Care Unit with 70 individuals requiring respirators,” he said in a statement on the development of Covid-19, Saturday.

He said Selangor topped the highest daily cases with 283 cases, followed by Sarawak (267), Kelantan (138), Penang (125), Kuala Lumpur (84), Johor (81), Sabah (64), Negeri Sembilan (43), Melaka (36), Kedah (33), Pahang (30), Perak (nine), Terengganu (three), Labuan (two) and Putrajaya (one), while no new cases were reported in Perlis, Saturday.

Dr Noor Hisham said two fatalities were recorded involving a local man and a non-citizen male aged 60 and 52, respectively, with a background of chronic illnesses.

Besides that, he said nine more clusters were identified Saturday involving five workplace clusters and four community clusters.

The workplace clusters are the Inanam Taipan cluster and the Jalan Kastam Baru cluster in Sabah; Jalan Kong Kong (Johor); Pandan Circle construction site (Kuala Lumpur); and Jalan Putra Square (Pahang), while community clusters involve the Jalan Gridbid, Kampung Baru Hilir and Jalan Tanjung Kidurong clusters in Sarawak and Gong Kulim in Kelantan.

“The addition of new clusters brings the total number of clusters in Malaysia to 1,344 with 392 of them still active while 10 clusters ended Saturday,” he said.

Meanwhile, two detention centres in Johor will come under an Enhanced Movement Control Order (Emco) from today (Sunday) following a rise in Covid-19 cases there.

In a statement Saturday, Senior Minister for Security Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the lockup at the Home Ministry’s Setia Tropika complex and the Immigration Department’s facility at the Bangunan Sultan Iskandar, in Johor Baru, will go under an Emco after a total of 90 positive cases were detected at these sites.

Thirty-nine detainees, all of whom are foreigners, at the Setia Tropika complex tested positive for Covid-19. As at March 25, a total of 51 detainees have tested positive for the virus after a screening of symptomatic individuals.

“The Emco will allow the health ministry to conduct targeted screening of the detainees, personnel as well as close contacts,” Ismail said in a statement.