Covid-19: Record of 44 new deaths, cases breach 4,000 for fourth day in a row

PETALING JAYA: The number of deaths from Covid-19 in a day has hit a new high, with 44 fatalities recorded on Saturday (May 15).

This surpasses the previous record of 39 deaths on May 12 (Wednesday).

With the 44 deaths, the death toll from Covid-19 now stands at 1,866, or 0.4%.

For the fourth day in a row, the number of new Covid-19 cases in Malaysia have surpassed 4,000.

Malaysia recorded 4,140 new cases on Saturday, bringing the number of current active cases to 42,135.

Some 503 patients are being treated in intensive care units (ICU), with 272 requiring ventilator support.

There were 3,432 new recovered cases, taking the recovery rate to 90.56%.

Selangor contributed the bulk of new cases with 1,507 new infections, followed by Johor (433) and Kuala Lumpur (398), according to the Health Ministry.

Since Wednesday (May 12), cases breached the 4,000 mark, beginning with 4,765, increasing to 4,855 on Thursday and 4,113 on Friday.

The cumulative total now stands at 466,330 cases.

On another matter, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said 132 people from India were brought back to Malaysia through a humanitarian and disaster relief mission on May 12.

"Only those who tested negative for Covid-19 were allowed to go on the departing flight.

"But when they were tested on arrival, seven of the 132 people were found to be positive," he said in a tweet.

Dr Noor Hisham added that the Health Ministry extended their quarantine period from 14 to 21 days.

He said in a news portal that the ministry had yet to determine if the seven positive cases were variants of concern.

"The sample for a full genomic sequence has been taken and it takes time, as we need to culture the virus before full genome sequencing," Dr Noor Hisham said in the report.