KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 5 — Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has revealed new data today showing that 4,756 healthcare workers have been infected with Covid-19 so far. 

Breaking it down, the health director-general said among those, 3,101 were women, making up almost two-thirds of the cumulative total.

Dr Noor Hisham, however, explained that almost half of the total had contracted Covid-19 from the community, and not while on duty.

“Until today, we have 4,756 health workers who have tested positive, 3,101 of them women, 1,655 of them men.

“But 43 per cent of them got infected from within the community; with 85 new positive cases reported yesterday,” he said during a teleconference session with the media.

Dr Noor Hisham, however, did not specify when the data collection was started.

The three-hour session was held among members of the press together with Institute of Medical Research (IMR) Virology unit chief Dr Ravindran Thayan, Sungai Buloh National Public Health Laboratory director Dr Hani Hussin and Sungai Buloh Hospital’s Infectious Disease Department head Datuk Dr C. Suresh Kumar.

Dr Noor Hisham today also revealed that to date, some 936 police officers have tested positive.

“With that, some 1,355 policemen have been asked to undergo quarantine,” he said.

Malaysia today recorded 3,391 new Covid-19 infections, 19 more deaths related to the disease, while 3,392 more patients were cured and discharged.

This brings the total number of Covid-19 cases to 234,874, with 845 deaths, and 185,278 in total already discharged.