KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 9): Malaysia's new Covid-19 cases dropped to 959 today, after six consecutive days of reporting four-digit increases. It also recorded five new deaths from the coronavirus, according to the Ministry of Health.
The ministry also reported a higher number of new recoveries, with 1,068 Covid-19 patients having recovered from the disease today. This trimmed the number of active cases — which carry high transmission risks — to 10,748.
The new cases today raised Malaysia’s total cases to 76,265, with total recoveries at 65,124. The country's death toll from the disease climbed to 393.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said Selangor recorded the highest number of infections today, with 277 cases, followed by Sabah (203) and Kuala Lumpur (129).
On Selangor, he said 122 cases came from other Covid-19 screenings — an umbrella term that refers to screenings conducted on people with symptoms, pre-surgery screening, workplace screenings and pre-departure screenings, among others. Of the balance, 78 cases came from existing Covid-19 clusters, 76 from the screening of close contacts of Covid-19 positive patients, while one was an imported case.
“Among the new infections, six were imported while 953 were locally-transmitted cases,” Dr Noor Hisham told a media briefing today.
As for fatalities, two deaths were reported in Sabah, two in Johor, and one in Kuala Lumpur. The deceased were all men aged between 60 and 82 years.
Four new Covid-19 clusters identified
Dr Noor Hisham also said four new Covid-19 infection clusters have been identified, bringing total clusters reported by the ministry so far to 396. These four new clusters have a total of 52 infections.
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The new clusters are: the Kupi-Kupi cluster in Penampang, Sabah (with 12 cases); the Bina Ikon Bintang construction site cluster involving Lembah Pantai and Kepong in Kuala Lumpur (12 cases); the Bandar Impian cluster, which spanned Kluang in Johor, Pasir Puteh in Kelantan and Kuala Kangsar in Perak (nine cases); and the Jalan Kemang cluster in Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan (19 cases).
To date, 211 Covid-19 clusters have been declared ended including four more today, as no new cases were reported in 28 days. The four are: the Gala cluster in Negeri Sembilan, the Harmoni cluster in Selangor, the Mahkota cluster in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, and the Bah Kenangan cluster in Selangor.
Active Covid-19 clusters — which are still being monitored by the ministry — stood at 185.
Of this total, 38 clusters reported new cases today, with the highest number of new infections coming from the Jalan Genting cluster in Kuala Lumpur and Pahang (119 cases), followed by the Bintang cluster (45 cases) and the Bina Muda construction site cluster (39 cases), both in Kuala Lumpur.