This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on April 21, 2020

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia reported 36 new cases as of noon yesterday — the lowest daily figure since March 14, four days before the government imposed the nationwide movement control order (MCO) on March 18.

The number of daily cases fell from 84 reported on Sunday, and is also the lowest since the MCO began; the second lowest daily figure of 54 cases was reported on Saturday.

Meanwhile, daily recoveries were at 98, exceeding the number of new cases. This has reduced the number of active cases to 2,041, down from 2,103 on Sunday, while the death toll remains at 89, with no new fatalities recorded, said Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah in a statement yesterday.

Malaysia’s total cases now stand at 5,425, with 3,295 total recoveries.

Malaysia has the fourth-highest number of Covid-19 infections in Southeast Asia. Singapore is the worst hit, with 8,014 cases following a spike of 1,426 new infections reported yesterday, followed by Indonesia (6,760) and the Philippines (6,459).

Noor Hisham said that the declining trend of daily infections the country has been seeing lately is due to proactive and aggressive actions screening taken by the ministry of health.

However, he cautioned that daily infections may rise in the next two weeks as the ministry is still tracking Covid-19 cases.