Minister says 639 people were arrested on Saturday over various offences, including crossing districts or states without permission

by S BIRRUNTHA / pic by BERNAMA

THE Ministry of Health (MoH) reported a total of 3,780 new Covid-19 cases yesterday, as Selangor remained with the highest number of infections.

Health DG Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the new infection cases have brought the country’s overall total to 470,110 cases. He added that Selangor continued to record four-digit cases with a total of 1,275 new positive cases reported yesterday, bringing the cumulative number of cases in the state to 153,663.

“There were 36 deaths reported yesterday involving eight cases in Selangor, six cases in Penang, five cases each in Sarawak and Kedah, four cases in Kuala Lumpur, three cases in Perak, two cases each in Negri Sembilan and Terengganu and one case in Pahang.

“This has increased the overall Covid-19 death toll in the country to 1,902,” he said in his Covid-19 statement.

Dr Noor Hisham also said the ministry had detected 11 new Covid-19 clusters in the country over the last 24 hours.

Of the total, three of them were education clusters, three community clusters, two workplace clusters, two religious clusters and one private education cluster.

There are now 41,889 active Covid-19 cases that are being treated at health facilities nationwide.

Among the active cases yesterday, 520 patients were placed in the intensive care units, with 272 of them requiring respiratory aid.

Meanwhile, 3,990 patients were discharged yesterday, increasing the total recovered cases in the country to 426,319.

Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said several localities in Pahang and Kedah will be placed under the Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO).

He added that the MoH had detected a spike in Covid-19 cases in Ulu Lepar in Raub, Pahang, as well as Bandar Darulaman and Lubuk Kawah in Jitra, Kedah.

The EMCO in the affected areas is scheduled to begin on May 18 and end on May 31.

Additionally, Ismail Sabri said the EMCO imposed at Windmills Condominium, Genting View Resorts, and Apartment Mawar, Genting Highlands, will be lifted today.

On MCO violations, the minister said 639 people were arrested on Saturday over various offences, including gambling, failure to wear face masks, crossing districts or states without permission and premises failing to provide equipment for contact tracing or registration.

“A total of 204,949 people arrived through the Kuala Lumpur International Airport until Saturday from various countries and of that, 2,007 people were sent to hospital for treatment,” he noted in a statement yesterday.

Some 195,202 of the arrivals were allowed to return home and 7,740 people are currently undergoing mandatory quarantine, he added.