Covid-19: Malaysia sees 2,295 cases and 9 deaths

An infographic showing the Covid-19 situation in Malaysia as at January 2, 2021. Source: Ministry of Health, Malaysia.

By Adrian Lim

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 2: Malaysia reported 2,295 cases of Covid-19 and ninth deaths today.

Health director general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the nine deaths, all involving Malaysian citizens, had brought the cumulative number of casualties due to Covid-19 in Malaysia to 483.

He revealed that most of the new cases identified were from Selangor, Johor and Penang.

“Selangor registers the highest daily cases of 638 cases (27.8 per cent).

“Out of that figure, a total of 496 cases (77.7 per cent) are from existing clusters and close contact tracing of Covid-19 which is active in the field.

“This is followed by Johor with 580 cases (25.3 per cent) and Penang with 288 cases (12.5 per cent).

“A total of 135 cases (5.9 per cent) reported is associated with lockup, immigration detention depot and prison.

“They are from the Jalan Harapan Prison Cluster (109 cases), Tembok Gajah Cluster (14 cases), Kolam Air Cluster (3 cases), Tembok Cluster (3 cases), Seberang Perai Prison Cluster (3 cases), Tembok Mempaga Cluster (2 cases) and Tembok Choh Cluster (1 case),” he said in a press statement today.

Dr Noor Hisham noted three other states, Sabah, Kuala Lumpur and Negri Sembilan also reported triple digits increase in new cases.

He disclosed that Sabah reported 259 cases followed by Kuala Lumpur with 156 cases and Negri Sembilan with 131 cases.

Other states which reported new cases are Malacca (95 cases), Kedah (47 cases), Pahang (29 cases), Kelantan (26 cases), Terengganu (16  cases), Perak (12 cases), Putrajaya (12 cases), Sarawak (5 cases) and Labuan (1 case).

Dr Noor Hisham said out of the 2,295 new cases reported, nine were imported while the balance of 2,286 were local transmissions.

With the additional 2,295 cases, he added the cumulative number of Covid-19 cases in the country has increased to 117,373 cases.

Dr Noor Hisham said there were 3,321 patients who recovered and were allowed to be discharged from hospitals.

He added there were a total of 22,398 active cases in Malaysia with 125 patients being treated in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of health facilities and 51 patients on ventilators support.

Dr Noor Hisham said there were 523 active clusters of Covid-19 in Malaysia including nine new clusters identified today.

The new clusters are Harum Cluster in Johor, Casuarina Construction Site Cluster and Renggam Cluster in Selangor, Batu Lapan Cluster in Sabah, Jalan BBN Cluster in Negri Sembilan, Belukar Cluster in Kelantan, Kolam Permai Cluster in Terengganu and Mador Cluster in Sarawak.

“The (Mador) Cluster involves the Meradong and Sibu districts in Sarawak.

“The index case of the cluster, case 11,0418 was reported positive Covid-19 on December 30, 2020 through screening of individuals who returned from high risk areas.

“As of January 2, 2021, a total of 322 individuals have been screened whereby eight individuals were tested positive in the cluster,” he explained. — DayakDaily