KUALA LUMPUR, March 14 — Forty-one new positive Covid-19 cases were reported as of noon today, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 238, said Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

Of today’s new cases, 37 are linked to the cluster involving the "ijtimak tabligh” gathering at the Jamek Sri Petaling Mosque in Kuala Lumpur between February 28 and March 1, he said in a clarification issued this evening. 

Earlier reports had suggested that all of today’s new cases were connected to the event.

However, Dr Noor Hisham said the remaining three are part of the cluster linked to Case 33 while one has a travel history to Iran.

At the time of writing, 77 cases in Malaysia have now been confirmed as linked to the gathering attended by an estimated 16,000 people.

Singapore has reported new cases involving its citizens who participated in the event, as has Brunei with 38 confirmations.

Of the attendees, 14,500 were Malaysians and the rest were foreigners from around the region.

Dr Noor Hisham also tweeted that the Jamek Sri Petaling Mosque is now closed to the public as deep cleaning and disinfection is carried out.

Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham also announced in his statement that two Covid-19 patients, Case 35 and Case 61, had recovered and been discharged from Sungai Buloh Hospital.

This raises to 35 the number of patients who have been discharged from the hospital, he added.

"To date, 203 cases are still hospitalised, of which five cases are in intensive care and require ventilators to aid breathing. These cases are also receiving antiviral treatment,” he said in the statement.

*A previous version of this story contained errors which have since been corrected.