PUTRAJAYA, March 19 — The Health Ministry said today it detected 110 new confirmed cases of coronavirus disease (Covid-19), bringing the country’s total to 900.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba also said 63 out of the 110 new cases were linked to the tabligh gathering at Kuala Lumpur’s Jamek Sri Petaling Mosque, which ran from February 27 to March 1.
“The ministry would like to inform that 15 cases have been declared free of Covid-19 and discharged today. This brings to a total of 75 cases that have since fully recovered.
“Presently, 20 positive cases are being treated at Intensive Care Units and require respiratory support,” he said in a press conference at the ministry here.
Of the 900 cases accumulated as of today, 576 have been linked to the tabligh gathering to make it the biggest single Covid-19 cluster to date.
There were no new Covid-19-related deaths reported today, leaving Malaysia’s fatalities from the death at two.
According to the ministry, Selangor tops the list of most cases at 223 followed by Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur at 123, and Sabah at 112.
The remaining states consisted of Johor (101), Sarawak (51), Negri Sembilan (56), Kedah (40), Pulau Pinang (32), Kelantan (44), Pahang (32), Perak (35), Melaka (20), Terengganu (11), Perlis (9) and Labuan (5).
He said the remaining cases with the exception of those related to the tabligh gathering cluster, were from smaller clusters originating from close contact in the second wave of the Covid-19 outbreak.
Dr Adham also said despite the increase in positive cases recorded, the trend was slowly hitting a plateau with the enforcement of the national movement control order, adding that breaking the chain of Covid-19 transmission was crucial.
“What is most important is that with the movement control order, we want to break the chain of Covid-19 transmission.
“We want to compare with the positive cases recorded. We do not want them to increase exponentially.
“The trend overseas is that they have a sharp spike but for Malaysia, it has somewhat reached a plateau and this is a good sign of our control,” he said.
Muhyiddin had in a special announcement on Monday said Malaysia will effectively be hitting pause on all non-essential activities for two weeks from tomorrow (March 18) until March 31 to stop the spread of the Covid-19 virus under a nationwide movement control order.
This order covers the whole of Malaysia, with a ban on public gatherings including for any religious, sports, social and cultural events except for supermarkets, sundry goods stores, markets and other places selling daily necessities or things that people would need for their day-to-day lives.
This is the first time Malaysia has enforced such an order.
