By Geryl Ogilvy
KUCHING, April 16: The daily number of recovered Covid-19 patients continues to keep pace with the number of new cases in the country.
Ministry of Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said 119 patients have been discharged as of noon today, bringing the total cumulative cases of recovered individuals to 2,766.
The country recorded 110 new Covid-19 cases, raising the total accumulative cases to 5,182. The number of recovered patients was equivalent to 53.5 per cent of the total positive cases, he added.
Dr Noor Hisham expressed satisfaction that the number of discharged cases were higher than the new reported cases.
“A total of 2,322 active cases (patients) are isolated and receiving treatment at the hospitals, with 56 in the Intensive Care Units, whereby 29 need ventilators for respiratory assistance,” he told a press conference to give Covid-19 updates at Putrajaya today.
The country also recorded one new death, bringing the total Covid-19 death toll to 84. Dr Noor Hisham said this translated to a fatality rate of 1.62 per cent of the total number of cases.
The latest fatality involved a 66-year-old Malaysian man with high blood pressure and history of heart problems. He was admitted to Kuala Lumpur Hospital on April 9 and passed away on April 15, at around 12.55pm.
Dr Noor Hisham said the ministry will continue to study and adopt the best approach to combat the spread of Covid-19. He expressed satisfaction that the public and private sectors are coming together to fight the outbreak.
With the extension of the movement control order (MCO), he added that the ministry will continue to increase screenings, especially in targeted populations and locations.
“We hope the next one week will make a difference for us to bring down the cases further. During the first and second phase of MCO (March 18 till April 14), we did not see an exponential surge in cases. By doing so (MCO), we are able to maintain and reduced the cases from time to time.
“Hopefully we are able to contain the transmission of Covid-19, so that the hospitals and our (health) facilities are able to provide good, quality services to our patients,” he added.
Dr Noor Hisham said the outcome has shown high success and low mortality (rate) because patients were detected early. People with mild symptoms were quarantined at the hospitals and monitored for 14 days.
“It is important to reduce the infectivity of postive cases. We hope that we can continue to screen, track and test, as well as isolate and treat positive (symptoms) patients,” he continued. — DayakDaily
