Daily cases breach 3,000

PETALING JAYA: The number of daily Covid-19 cases has once again breached the 3,000 mark with 3,142 new cases reported yesterday – a worrying tally not seen since the beginning of this year.

The cumulative number of Covid-19 cases in the country also surpassed the 400,000 mark since the pandemic began last year, with 401,593 cases reported so far.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said that of the total daily cases, 2,950 were locals while 179 were foreigners.

“Selangor recorded the highest, with 1,019 cases. Of these, 819 cases were from clusters and screening of close contacts of positive Covid-19 cases carried out in the field.

“This was followed by Kelantan with 523 cases and Kuala Lumpur with 440 cases, ” he said in a statement yesterday.

Dr Noor Hisham noted that only 13 imported cases were recorded, of which four involved locals while nine others were foreigners.

As of yesterday, he said 26,719 cases remained active while 1,822 recoveries were recorded, bringing the cumulative number of recoveries to 373,379 since the start of the outbreak last year.

He added that there were 15 deaths, all involving locals, bringing the total death toll to 1,477.

He said 306 cases were being treated in the intensive care unit with 151 cases requiring ventilator support.

Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham said 12 new Covid-19 clusters were detected, bringing the total number of active clusters to 370.

“A total of 68 clusters recorded an increase in new cases, ” he added.

The first time the number of daily Covid-19 cases breached the 3,000 mark was on Jan 7 when 3,027 cases were registered.

The number of cases remained high early in the year, with over 3,000 Covid-19 cases for eight days in a row beginning Jan 14 and hitting a record 5,725 cases on Jan 29.

On March 29, the number of daily Covid-19 cases dipped below 1,000 with 941 cases, but it has since showed a steady increase in the following weeks.