PUTRAJAYA: The number of critical Covid-19 patients in Malaysia reached a new high with a record number of 315 people placed in intensive care, says the Health Ministry.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said there are now 122 Covid-19 patients who require ventilator support.
On the previous day, the number of patients in intensive care units was 280, with 111 on ventilators.
In his daily update, he said there were 3,680 new Covid-19 cases, taking the cumulative total to 194,114.
The country also discharged 1,858 patients, bringing the number of Covid-19 recoveries up to 151,018.
Seven Malaysians, aged between 55 and 84, succumbed yesterday.
Dr Noor Hisham said three of the deaths were in Selangor (Shah Alam, Sungai Buloh and Klang), two in Perak, and one each in Sarawak and Sabah.
The deceased were mostly sufferers of comorbidities such as diabetes, high blood pressure and chronic kidney disease.
Malaysia’s Covid-19 death toll is now 707. The number of active Covid-19 cases in the country has gone up to 42,389.
Yesterday, Johor was the state that recorded the highest number of new cases at 1,069, followed by Selangor (822 cases), Kuala Lumpur (698), and Sabah (295).
“Most of the cases were uncovered from infection clusters and active contact tracing activities, ” said Dr Noor Hisham.
There were 17 new clusters identified yesterday by the Health Ministry, 15 of which were at workplaces, while the remaining two were community outbreaks.
The Parit Lanjut cluster in Muar, which is linked to a factory there, has 547 cases.
He said the cases were uncovered from a targeted screening exercise on factory employees who live at workers’ hostels around Kampung Parit Lanjut in Bukit Pasir, Muar.
“A total of 1,451 individuals were screened since Jan 23 and 547 of them tested positive, ” he said.
A new cluster found in Sarawak is linked to several social events in Kampung Bedega and Kampung Antayan in the Serian district.
Dubbed the Bedega cluster, it was traced to a 34-year-old man who tested positive on Jan 20, said Dr Noor Hisham.
A screening of 112 individuals uncovered 13 positive cases, he added.
He also said there are now 366 active clusters nationwide.
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