KUALA LUMPUR, May 31 — Brought-in-dead (BID) cases due to Covid-19 complications are rising at an exponential rate, and comprised 106 out of 386 such cases this month alone, said Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba.

According to Malay daily Utusan Malaysia, the health minister attributed the spike to the deceased’s refusal to seek hospital treatment despite testing positive for the highly infectious coronavirus.

He cited the case of an 80-year-old man with a history of prostate cancer who died at home after testing positive for Covid-19 24 hours before his death.

He had refused to go to hospital despite showing signs of being asymptomatic for a week.

"The case was referred to the hospital but (he) refused to go to hospital and went home instead. The patient was RT-PCR tested at an examination centre the next day, where he was referred to a hospital once again, but (he) returned home.

"A family member found the patient unconscious at 7pm on May 22. He was pronounced dead at 7.20pm on the same day by a health officer,” he told the Malay daily.

In total, Dr Adham added that individuals with a pre-existing medical condition or comorbidity topped the BID list of Covid-19 dead since the start of the pandemic, at 258 cases or 67 per cent.

This was followed by those with no known medical condition, at 96 cases (25 per cent), and cases with no information, at 32 cases (8 per cent).

According to the report, the minister stated that 14.5 per cent of Malaysia’s total 2,650 Covid-19 fatalities involved BID cases as of May 29.

"This month, 19 BID cases involved patients in home quarantine, while the remaining cases tested positive for Covid-19 after the body arrived at the hospital,” he added.

Two days ago, Malaysia reported the highest daily number of Covid-19 fatalities since the pandemic outbreak began in Malaysia, with 98 deaths.