125 new cases recorded

KUALA LUMPUR: Another 125 new Covid-19 cases have been recorded in Malaysia.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba said 95 out of these cases were linked to the tabligh programme at Masjid Jamek Sri Petaling based on early investigations.

This brings the total number of positive cases in the country to 553.

A majority of the 125 positive cases were centred in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Sabah and Johor, he added.

He said currently three more patients were placed in intensive care unit, bringing the total to 12.

“The increase (in the ICU) is from the tabligh cluster, ” he told a press conference yesterday.

Dr Adham also said that although the country was in the late containment stage, it was working as if it was on the mitigation stage.

“In the late containment stage, its purpose is to control the transmission of Covid-19 from becoming even more serious.

“But, at the same time, the ministry is also in preparation to enter the mitigation stage, ” he said.

Among the steps in the mitigation stage was by placing Sungai Buloh Hospital as an admission hospital for Covid-19 positive cases, Dr Adham said.

The ministry, he said, would also increase the capacity and the capability of its laboratories to screen for the virus, identify quarantine places throughout the country and work with NGOs and private facilities to manage the infections.

He also said that there were no new patients discharged yesterday, keeping the total at 42.

Dr Adham explained that the country was still able to contain the virus with the Sungai Buloh Hospital being an admission hospital for Covid-19.

Malaysia, he said, also needed infectious disease epidemiologists.

“That is the most important and, so far, we adequately have them in each state, ” he said.

He explained that there were 135 government hospitals, nine specialist centres and 210 private hospitals in the country.

Dr Adham also said that there were 61,158 doctors nationwide, adding that an extra 830 new nurses on a two-year contract would be placed in hospitals nationwide starting today.

To mitigate the current situation, he said the ministry had ordered an additional 800 ventilators.

“We currently have 926 ventilators in the country, 152 non-invasive ventilators, 142 transport ventilators and 450 ventilators at private hospitals, ” he said.

Asked if the ministry would seek the help of China in combating the pandemic, Dr Adham said that they were “working on it”.