By Geryl Ogilvy
KUCHING, April 9: Foreigners make up about 9.8 per cent of those diagnosed with Covid-19 in the country.
Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said as of 12pm today, the Health Ministry has detected 416 Covid-19 positive cases among non-Malaysians.
The country recorded 109 new positive cases today, bringing the total number of infected patients to 4,228.
Of the 416 cases, he added that 51 cases involved Indonesian nationals, India (37), Myanmar (31), Pakistan (29) and the Philippines (27) among others.
This included the country’s 65th Covid-19 fatality, a Pakistani male aged 69, who attended the Sri Petaling tabligh gathering and passed away in Kuala Lumpur on April 8, as well as the Indonesian lecturer, 40, who passed away at the Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) on March 20.
“The Health Ministry is working closely with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to ensure that refugees and asylum seekers are covered in the Covid-19 detection and screening by the authorities,” he told a press conference to provide daily Covid-19 updates in Putrajaya today.
Dr Noor Hisham added that the respective foreign missions have been informed on the Covid-19 status of their nationals.
He said the ministry has received assistance from numerous non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and volunteers to carry out detection work in the field with the district health officers.
He added that in Kuala Lumpur alone, 137 volunteers from various sectors were involved in this initiative. — DayakDaily
