PUTRAJAYA, April 2 ― Around 80 per cent of Malaysia’s coronavirus disease (Covid-19) patients either have no or mild symptoms of infection, Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah disclosed today.

The Health director-general said during his daily Covid-19 press conference that the rest were moderate or critical cases that require medical attention.

"We know that 80 per cent are asymptomatic or they have mild symptoms. The other 20 per cent need more attention as they either belong in the moderate cases or the critical cases of around five to 10 per cent,” said Dr Noor Hisham.

Malaysia’s cumulative positive cases reached 3,116 today, with 767 already cured and discharged to give the country a 24.6-per cent recovery rate.

There have been 50 deaths so far, which is around 1.6 to 1.7 per cent of the total active cases in the country.

The death rate is lower than the global average, which stands at around 4.6 to 4.7 per cent.

Dr Noor Hisham said Malaysia has implemented a far more stringent screening processes when compared to what was recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in the early days of the pandemic.

"We were made to understand that the incubation period is within two weeks. There’s also the issue that they don’t show any symptoms but they were tested positive. This was our first, second, third and fourth cases.

"All four were asymptomatic. We screened them even though they didn’t show any symptoms and the WHO had recommended that only those with symptoms should be tested.

"But for us, if a person has had close contact with an infected patient, we tested them still and quarantined them,” he said.