Dr Noor Hisham: New Covid-19 cases down to 1,295, but seven more deaths

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 16 — Malaysia saw a dip in new Covid-19 infections with 1,295 cases reported today but with seven more Covid-19 related deaths, said Health Ministry director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

Malaysia’s cumulative confirmed Covid-19 cases today stands at 87,913. This has now surpassed the latest figure for Mainland China where the first case was reported in Wuhan province. Its National Health Commission reported 86,770 cumulative cases yesterday.

However, the World Health Organisation states that the cumulative cases in China is at a much higher number of 95,279, as it includes the number of cases in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau.

A bulk of the new cases were reported in Selangor with 481 cases, Sabah with 268 new infections, and Kuala Lumpur with 232 new cases, with 10 imported cases from returning travellers.

The rest of the states in order of new cases reported are Johor with 105, Penang with 69, Negri Sembilan with 60, 35 cases in Perak, 14 in Melaka, 13 in Pahang, Kedah with nine new cases, Putrajaya with four, three in Labuan and one each in Kelantan and Terengganu.

Dr Noor Hisham said the seven deaths brings the local fatality rate to 0.49 per cent with 429 deaths.

From today’s deaths, five were reported in Sabah and one each in Kelantan and Kuala Lumpur.

The 423rd death was of a 66-year-old man admitted in Hospital Sungai Buloh with a background of diabetes, hypertension, chronic kidney disease and cataract.

The 424th and 425th deaths were of 52-year-old women, one admitted in Lahad Datu Hospital and the other in Raja Perempuan Zainab II Hospital in Kota Baru with both patients having a history of diabetes and hypertension, while the latter also suffered from dyslipidaemia.

All the four remaining deaths were reported in Sabah, three in Tawau Hospital and one in Lahad Datu Hospital. The men were aged 77, 58, 76, and 57 respectively, where both the men in their 70s had a history of hypertension.

Dr Noor Hisham also reported eight new Covid-19 infection clusters, while also announcing the end of the Murni cluster in the capital.

Three of the new clusters were detected in the city with one each in Selangor, Sabah, Johor, Perak and Pahang.

Meanwhile, 1,052 more patients were cured and released, bringing the total number of discharged patients to 72,733.