KUALA LUMPUR: The daily number of Covid-19 cases in the country remained above 5,000 for the third straight day, albeit reducing slightly to 5,298, while 4,522 cases were reported to have recovered, the highest daily total so far.
The previous high was 4,427 recoveries on Jan 24.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the new developments took the total number of cases recorded in the country so far to 214,959, with 166,049 fully recovered, and 48,150 cases still active.
“Of the number of new cases today, 5,295 are local transmissions while the other three are import cases involving two citizens and a foreigner.
“Selangor reported the highest number of new daily cases with 2,460, followed by Johor (1,020) and Kuala Lumpur (783),” he said in a statement today.
Dr Noor Hisham said 313 cases were at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) with 127 of them requiring respiratory assistance.
Meanwhile, he said 14 deaths were recorded today, with 12 cases in Selangor and one case each in Sarawak and Kuala Lumpur, bringing the cumulative number of fatalities to 760.
A total of 10 new clusters were also detected, bringing the total number of active clusters to 392, with 83 of them recording new cases today.
Dr Noor Hisham said of the 10 new clusters, seven involved workplaces, namely Jalan Rami Tiga, Jalan Mega and Sri Plentong in Johor; Jalan Kewajipan dan Persiaran Sabak (Selangor); Raja Chulan Construction Site (Kuala Lumpur) and Jalan Masjid Tanah in Melaka.
“Another two clusters comprise of high-risk groups, namely Jalan Ithnin in Johor and Bercham Raya in Perak while one is a community cluster, namely Jalan Tronoh in Perak.
“The clusters which recorded the highest number of new cases today were the Jalan Vista Construction Site Cluster with 222 cases, Jalan Chulan Construction Site (151 cases) and the Jalan Kewajipan Cluster (125 cases),” he said.
Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham said the sharp increase in the number of daily cases, going beyond the 5,000-mark for three consecutive days, was due to late reporting of cases to the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) National Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre (CPRC), which also included cases detected positive in 2020.
“This sharp increase in cases is due to targeted screening at the workplace, close contact screening, and high-risk group screening carried out on a large scale in several states.
“Nevertheless, these late-reported cases have been dealt with appropriately on the field by the respective district health offices, such as performing isolation and treatment of positive cases, close contact detection and active case detection,” he said.
He said there were also delayed reports from registered private facilities using the Public Health Laboratory Information System (SIMKA).
“Thank you to the private facilities that have reported cases immediately using SIMKA, and also MySejahtera users who have reported the status of their Covid-19 test results themselves,” he said.
He said the MOH would work with all relevant parties so that the delay in reporting positive cases could be addressed immediately. – Bernama
