Covid-19: 45 new cases, with 40 from Benteng LD cluster in Sabah

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia has confirmed 45 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday (Sept 10), with 40 of them coming from the Benteng LD (Lahad Datu) cluster in Sabah.

This brings the total of cases under the cluster – currently Malaysia’s biggest and active Covid-19 cluster – to a total of 170 cases.

At a press conference on Thursday, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said of the 45 cases, 44 were local transmissions and only one was an import case.

Of the 40 new cases under the Benteng LD cluster, 35 are detainees while six are family members of prison staff.

All of the new cases were detected at the Tawau prison.

In Kedah, there were four new cases, with two of them linked to the Telaga cluster and one related to the Sungai cluster.

Another case was detected from the Simpang Kuala clinic in the state, following screening conducted on symptomatic individuals.

The sole import case involves a Malaysian returning into the country from Brazil.

Meanwhile, 24 patients were discharged, meaning the total of recoveries is 9,167 or a rate of 95.2%.

The total number of active cases in the country has now gone up to 333 cases.

Cumulatively, the country’s total of cases since the outbreak began in January is 9,628.

Currently, nine people are being treated at intensive care units, with five of them requiring ventilator support.

No fatalities were reported, which means the Covid-19 death toll in the country remains at 128 or at a rate of 1.35%.