KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 21): Malaysia reported 57 new Covid-19 cases today and a new cluster in Sabah.

This raised the total number of confirmed infections in the country to 10,276 cases, while total deaths remained at 130 or 1.26% of all cases, with no new fatalities reported.

There were 40 recoveries today — lower than the daily new infections — which raised active cases to 751, compared to 734 reported yesterday. This brought the country’s Covid-19 recovery tally to 9,395 or 91.4% of total confirmed infections.

In a statement today, Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said of the 57 cases, there were 51 local transmissions and six imported cases.

Among the local transmissions reported today, 45 were Malaysians while six were foreigners. The six imported cases involved one Malaysian and five foreigners returning from Indonesia, the UK, Pakistan and Zambia.

Noor Hisham said there was a high number of cases in Sabah today, with 49 reported out of the 51 local transmissions there, including 14 cases in the Pulau cluster, 12 in the Selamat cluster and five from the Benteng Lahad Datu cluster.

The ministry also reported a new ‘Quarters’ cluster in Sandakan, Sabah, based in the Tongod district after a healthcare worker was screened through the antigen rapid test.

According to Noor Hisham, the healthcare worker was negative for the Covid-19 validation test. However following a community screening after, five people tested positive as of today making up the new Quarters cluster. The five people are locals and have been admitted to the Duchess of Kent hospital in Sandakan.

“As of noon today, 117 individuals have been screened whereby five came back positive and 112 are still awaiting results,” Noor Hisham said.