Another high number of fatalities yesterday at 15, bringing the cumulative deaths to 578

by NUR HAZIQAH A MALEK / pic by ARIF KARTONO

THE country recorded two highest daily Covid-19 cases within one week with yesterday’s 3,337 cases, following Tuesday’s 3,309 cases.

Malaysia also recorded another high number of fatalities yesterday at 15, bringing the cumulative number of Covid-19 fatalities to 578.

Health DG Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah expressed his fears that the nation had seen 71 Covid-related deaths in the first nine days of 2021, while within the first nine months of 2020, there were less than 100 deaths.

The latest deaths were eight in Sabah, four in Selangor, two in Johor and one in Negri Sembilan.

The new cases yesterday have brought the country’s active cases to 32,377 and the cumulative total to 147,855.

From yesterday’s number, 3,330 were local transmissions, with the highest coming from Selangor with 1,036 cases, followed by Johor (460) and Sabah (389).

In Selangor, 795 cases were from existing clusters and close contact tracing which the Health Ministry (MoH) is actively doing.

A total of 135 cases were related to clusters in prisons, lockups and immigration detainment depots, namely Tembok Mempaga (63), Tropika (51), Jalan Harapan Prison (34), Kepayan Prison (two), Tembok Choh (one), Tembok Gajah (one) and Pagar Siput (one).

About 195 of the positive cases were being treated in the intensive care unit, where 86 were on ventilation assistance.

On the cluster front, seven new ones have been identified, while one has expired as of yesterday, making the current total active clusters at 276.

Four out of the seven new clusters identified were workplace clusters, while the rest were from close contact tracing and a detainment centre.

Meanwhile, a total of 1,710 individuals have recovered from the virus, bringing the total recoveries in the country to 113,288 cases.

Earlier yesterday, Gua Musang MP Tan Sri Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah was reported to have tested positive for Covid-19.

Astro Awani reported that Tengku Razaleigh, or better known as Ku Li, is currently seeking treatment at the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre.

He was a close contact of the Umno assemblyman for Nenggiri, Ab Aziz Yusoff, who had recently tested positive for the virus as well.

Prior to this, Ku Li’s officer, Lokman Ab Ghani, was also confirmed to have been infected and was seeking treatment at Kuala Lumpur Hospital.