Record number of deaths

PETALING JAYA: The country recorded 16 deaths yesterday, the highest since the first MCO was declared to combat the Covid-19 pandemic last March.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said this brought the total death toll in Malaysia to 537 cases.

“The increase in death cases today is due to these cases requiring additional time for further investigations prior to their deaths being confirmed as having been caused by Covid-19, ” he said in a statement yesterday.

The country previously recorded its highest death toll on Nov 3 with 12 fatalities.

Dr Noor Hisham also noted that the country recorded 2,643 new Covid-19 cases where 2,641 were locally transmitted and two were imported cases.

Of the 2,641 locally transmitted cases, he said 1,666 cases involved Malaysians and 975 cases were foreigners.

He added that Selangor recorded the highest number of cases at 1,086, followed by Sabah (401) and Johor (298).

Of the 1,086 cases in Selangor, he said 904 were from the clusters and close contact screenings that were being conducted on the field.

He added that 79 cases, meanwhile, were detected from lock-ups, immigration detention depots, and prisons involving the Jalan Harapan Prison cluster (73 cases), Pagar Sipur cluster (three), Choh Tembok cluster (two), and the Tembok Gajah cluster (one).

Dr Noor Hisham said that there were also six new clusters detected which were located in Selangor (three), Kuala Lumpur (two), and Sabah (one).

The new ones in Selangor – Jalan Klinik, Tapak Bina Hevea, and Bukit Belimbing – were all workplace clusters.

The Jalan Klinik cluster was detected in Klang through targeted screenings at a factory, while the Tapak Bina Hevea cluster was detected in Petaling through targeted screenings at a construction site.

The Bukit Belimbing cluster was detected in the Petaling and Klang districts through targeted screenings at a company.

In Kuala Lumpur, said Dr Noor Hisham, a workplace cluster known as the Kapital cluster was detected in Lembah Pantai where the index cases tested positive through a symptomatic individual screening.

The Setapak Indah cluster involved the Titiwangsa district in Kuala Lumpur.

“The index case of this cluster tested positive for the virus on Jan 7 through self-testing, ” he said.

Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham said that in Sabah, the new cluster known as the Kauran cluster was detected in Keningau where the index case tested positive for the virus through a symptomatic individual screening.

He noted that three clusters – Jalan Bomba, Makmur, and Tapak Bina Galeri – had ended, bringing the total number of clusters that ended to 319.

There are currently 257 active clusters in the country with 57 clusters reporting an increase of cases.

The clusters recording the highest additional cases were the Sungai Putus cluster (374 cases), Jalan Klinik (132), and Jalan Harapan prison cluster (73).