By Adrian Lim
KUCHING, May 16: Malaysia reported 17 new positive cases of Covid-19 and another fatality which involved a staff from the Ministry of Health (MoH) today.
Health director general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the deceased was also treated for lung cancer.
“This is an additional death related to Covid-19. The 113rd case of death which is also the 6,856 case of Covid-19 involved a 53-year old female.
“She had final stage lung cancer and hypertension,” he said during MoH’s press conference on the updates of Covid-19 situation at Putrajaya today.
He said she was also a MoH staff in Sabah.
“Nonetheless, she was on leave treating her cancer at home. She was admitted to Hospital Wanita dan Kanak-Kanak in Likas on May 5 as her health condition worsened.
“She underwent Covid-19 swab test, tested positive and was pronounced dead on May 7,” he said.
With the latest casualty, he said the death toll has increased to 113 people and the casualty rate equals 1.64 per cent of overall Covid-19 cases.
When asked by reporters to clarify further on the death case whether it was asymptomatic, Dr Noor Hisham said the cause of the deceased who passed away was still under investigation although she had Covid-19.
He explained the deceased had final stage of lung cancer and at the same time contacted Covid-19 while having palliative care at home.
Dr Noor Hisham opined that the deceased might have contacted Covid-19 from visitors who visited her at home or those who treated her on lung cancer.
He noted that when the victim was brought to the hospital after her health condition deteriorated, MoH performed the Covid-19 swab test on her and she was found to be positive Covid-19.
He also explained that there were Covid-19 death cases whereby the causes of the person who died were not from Covid-19 but from their terminal illness.
In the latest death case, Dr Noor Hisham said the deceased had tested positive for Covid-19 although she had terminal illness.
Therefore, he noted that as long as the patient has Covid-19 and passed away, the case will be classified as Covid-19 death although it might be from other illness.
In the meantime, Dr Noor Hisham noted that out of the 17 new cases reported today, six cases were imported while the remaining 11 cases involved local transmission.
He added out of the 11 cases, five of them involved foreigners.
With the additional 17 new cases today, Dr Noor Hisham said the cumulative number of Covid-19 positive case in Malaysia has increased to 6,872 cases as of May 16.
He also noted there were 1,247 active cases which are being treated at the hospitals throughout the country.
He said there were also 73 patients whom have recovered and discharged from the hospital today.
With that, the cumulative number of Covid-19 patients who have discharged was 5,512 people.
On another note, Dr Noor Hisham said there is no Member of Parliament (MP) who is found to be positive for Covid-19 as of today.
He revealed that all the MPs have undergone the Covid-19 swab test as part of the procedures to attend the one-day Parliament sitting on Monday (May 18).
Dr Noor Hisham said that MoH is still awaiting the swab test results of some of the attendees of the Parliament sitting, which will be made known in the next 24 hours.
Dr Noor Hisham disclosed that all the MPs including 750 workers in the Parliament have underwent the Covid-19 swab test. – DayakDaily
