by S BIRRUNTHA / pic by BERNAMA

MALAYSIA recorded another daily high of 360 new deaths in the country yesterday, of which 221 were from Selangor.

This came just four days after the previous record of 257 deaths on Aug 4.

Health DG Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said this brought the overall Covid-19 death toll in the country to 10,749.

He added that a total of 18,688 new Covid-19 cases were detected yesterday, involving 18,678 local cases and 10 imported.

Selangor recorded the highest number of infections with 6,565 cases, followed by Kuala Lumpur (1,883) and Kedah (1,610).

Sabah recorded a total of 1,379, followed by Johor (1,308), Negri Sembilan (1,140), Kelantan (870), Perak (861), Penang (694), Pahang (602), Terengganu (598), Sarawak (581), Melaka (526), Putrajaya (63), Perlis (6) and Labuan (2).

This brought the current active cases in the country to 225,393 and the total number of infections to more than 1.26 million.

Among the active cases, 1,095 patients were treated in the intensive care units, with 471 of them requiring ventilators.

Some 17,055 patients recovered yesterday, increasing the total recovered cases in the country to at least 1.02 million.

Thirty-nine new Covid-19 clusters were detected yesterday, of which 18 were from workplaces, 15 community clusters, two prison clusters, two high-risk group clusters, one religious cluster and an education cluster.

On another note, Dr Noor Hisham said three more new cases were found to be linked to the Parliament, bringing the total number of cases detected during the last Dewan Rakyat session to 20 cases.

The new cases detected were reported on Aug 7 and had a threshold cycle value between 19.15 and 22.27, which is a high infectious rate.

“They had mild symptoms and were fully vaccinated. They also took precautionary measures with self-quarantine after returning from the parliamentary session to avoid infecting their families.

“Investigations to identify close contacts during the Parliament session are still ongoing by the district health office.

“Additionally, the Institute for Medical Research is conducting whole genomic sequencing and is still awaiting final results,” he said.

Separately, Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein announced that the Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO) will be implemented in eight localities across Sabah, Terengganu and Kelantan.

In a statement yesterday, the minister said the EMCO restrictions will begin tomorrow until Aug 23.

On the other hand, the EMCO at several localities in Kelantan, Sabah, Perak and Pahang were lifted today.

A total of 25 premises were ordered to close for failing to comply with the standard operating procedures.