KUCHING, March 31: Malaysia reported six more Covid-19 deaths today, while 140 new positive cases were detected nationwide.
The latest infections brings the tally of cases in the country to 2,766, while the national death toll stands at 43 or 1.55 per cent of overall cases.
Ministry of Health (MOH) director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah revealed that the 38th death (case 2,269) was a 48-year-old Malaysian woman with a history of hypertension.
“She was a contact to case 2,750 and was admitted to Tuanku Jaafar Hospital in Negeri Sembilan on March 25 and pronounced dead on March 30 at 4.04pm,” he told a daily press conference on Covid-19 at the ministry in Kuala Lumpur.
The 39th death (case 2,626) was a 69-year-old Malaysian man who had travelled to Saudi Arabia and had a history of diabetes and hypertension. He passed away at home on March 27 and the body was brought to Kuala Lumpur Hospital.
The 40th death (case 2,627) was a 69-year-old Malaysian man with a history of diabetes and hypertension. He was admitted to Enche’ Besar Hajjah Kalsom Hospital in Johor and passed away on March 26 at 1.03pm.
The 41st death (case 1,275) was a 40-year-old Indonesian man who was admitted to the Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) on March 20 and pronounced dead on March 31 at 1.38am.
The 42nd death (case 2,628) was a 81-year-old Malaysian man with heart disease. He was admitted to University of Malaya Medical Centre on March 27 and passed away on March 31 at 7.09am.
The 43rd death (case 2,629) was a 73-year-old Malaysian man with a history of diabetes and heart disease. He was admitted to Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital in Selangor on March 29 and passed away on March 30 at 4.30pm.
Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham revaled that as of today, 95 patients were in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) while 60 of them required respiratory support.
“A total of 58 patients have recovered and been discharged from hospitals, bringing the number of people cured from Covid-19 in Malaysia to 537,” he said.
He also pointed out that data suggested that two age groups — between 26-30 and 56-70-years-old — have higher numbers of Covid-19 positive cases compared to other age groups.
“As such, the Ministry wants to encourage people staying at home to practise good personal hygiene such as washing hands often as well as social distancing,” he advised.
With today marking the 14th day since the Movement Control Order (MCO) has been implemented, Dr Noor Hisham said the number of daily cases continued to increase with occasional plateauing while the number of patients discharged from wards also continued to increase.
“We will enter the second phase of the MCO which is a crucial period to determine whether the actions and measures taken by the government so far would see the desired impact.
“The outcome correlates with the actions of the public in complying with the MCO,” he added.
As the second phase of the MCO will kick off tomorrow (April 1) until April 14, Dr Noor Hisham reiterated that the cooperation of everyone — individuals and organisations — for the next two weeks will be crucial to ensure that the Covid-19 infection chain can be broken. — DayakDaily
