Health DG: Stand as one to fight the pandemic - The Star Online

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia recorded its highest ever daily figure after registering 6,075 new Covid-19 cases.

The country’s coronavirus death toll has also breached the 2,000 mark after another 46 fatalities were recorded, and 559 patients are now in intensive care units (ICU) nationwide.

With Malaysia’s Covid-19 situation reaching new heights, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has called on all quarters to put aside their differences and overcome the pandemic as one.

“It is hoped that everybody is aware of the humbling situation that is occurring in this country.

“We all need to work closely with each other and face these difficult times together.

“We must all battle Covid-19 as a united nation, ” he said in his daily Covid-19 press update yesterday.

Selangor, which is currently undergoing a mass testing exercise, has recorded 2,251 new positive cases or 37% of the country’s total.

Most of the state’s new cases – 1,481 or 65.8% – were uncovered from tracing close contacts.

Another 302 (13.4%) cases were traced from clusters, while 467 (20.7%) were detected from various screening activities.

Johor saw the second highest increase with 699 cases, followed by Kuala Lumpur with 660.

All states except Labuan, Putrajaya and Perlis recorded three-digit cases.

Earlier, the Health Ministry had also confirmed that there were no “green zones” left in Peninsular Malaysia, as no districts were recording zero active cases.

Of the 46 deaths due to Covid-19 in the country, 19 were reported in Selangor.

The others were from Sarawak (seven cases), Johor (six), Kelantan (four), Sabah (two), Kuala Lumpur (two), Penang (two), Kedah (two), Negri Sembilan (one) and Melaka (one).

Thirty one were elderly, while 15 were aged below 60.

The youngest casualty was a 17-year-old boy at Hospital Ampang with a history of leukemia.

Five cases were classified as “brought in dead” at Hospital Kapit in Sarawak, Hospital Sungai Buloh, Hospital Sultan Ismail in Johor Baru, and Hospital Canselor Tuanku Muhriz in Cheras (two cases).

The number of active Covid-19 cases have now increased to 47,340.

As for recoveries, 3,516 people were discharged in the same 24-hour window. The total number of recoveries stands at 436,116 or 89.83%.

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry also identified 22 new Covid-19 clusters nationwide.

Dr Noor Hisham said this was the highest number of new clusters recorded in a single day.

Eight of the new clusters are outbreaks at workplaces, including the Jalan Tanjung Kupang cluster in Johor with 199 confirmed cases.

The outbreak was discovered from a targeted screening exercise conducted on 953 workers of a construction site in Gelang Patah, Johor.