KUALA LUMPUR, March 17 — New Covid-19 cases rose marginally to 1,219 today, according to Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

A tweet by Dr Noor Hisham showed that Selangor again topped the list with 499 new infections, followed by Sarawak with 225 cases, and Johor with 169 new infections.

Penang recorded 69 new infections over the last day, while 54 more cases were detected in Kuala Lumpur.

A statement issued by Dr Noor Hisham revealed that 1,346 more patients were cured and discharged, bringing the country’s recovery rate to 95 per cent with 310,958 patients discharged from treatment so far.

The current cumulative case count stands at 327,253 infections locally, with 15,075 active cases.

Dr Noor Hisham also revealed two more Covid-19 related deaths involving two Sabahans, a 75-year old man with a history of diabetes, hypertension and heart disease, and a 58-year old woman with a history of hypertension.

Today’s deaths bring the tally to 1,220, or a 0.37 per cent fatality rate.

The director-general also reported 12 new Covid-19 infection clusters: eight workplace clusters, two from the community, and one each from a detention centre and crew of a ship that docked in Johor.

Four of them were detected in Johor, namely the Kayu Gading cluster detected among factory workers in Batu Pahat with 36 positive cases, and the Jalan Hang Tuah community cluster stemming from a symptomatic individual with 20 positive cases to date.

The remaining clusters detected in Johor are the Tembok Muhasabah cluster involving a detention centre along Jalan Kuala Klawang in Jelebu with 49 positive cases, and the Andromeda imported cluster involving crew members of a dredging ship that docked in Muar from Singapore.

Three clusters were detected among factory workers in Selangor, namely the Subang Dua cluster detected in Taman Perindustrian Subang with 153 positive cases, the Jalan Lada Sulah cluster in Shah Alam with 18 cases, and the Meranti Jaya cluster in Sepang with eight positive cases.

Meanwhile in Negri Sembilan, Dr Noor Hisham reported the Jalan Perdana cluster at an education centre in Rembau with 23 positive cases so far, while the Jalan Merpati cluster was detected in Sarawak among the staff of a supermarket in Miri with 51 testing positive.

In Kelantan, the Jalan Long Yunus cluster was detected among the staff of a public administrative office in Kota Bharu with 23 found people positive, while 41 people tested positive forming the Banggol Lepah cluster detected at a constructions site also in Kota Bharu.

The final cluster is the Taman Ria Enam community cluster in Tawau, Sabah, where its index case was detected positive during pre-procedure screening with 16 positive cases so far.

A total of 1,267 Covid-19 clusters have been detected nationwide so far, with 838 declared ended and 429 still active.