Deadliest day by far for Malaysia as 59 die from Covid-19, another 6,806 infected

KUALA LUMPUR, May 20 — After recording a new high of 6,075 cases yesterday, the Health Ministry said today new Covid-19 infections surged to a further 6,806 cases in the last 24-hour period as Malaysia breached the 50,000 daily active cases mark.

Malaysia also lost another record number of patients to Covid-19, with 59 patients reported dead today for the highest ever single-day loss since the pandemic began last year.

The previous record for deaths in a 24-hour period was set just two days ago, when 47 people died.

After today, the nationwide death toll is now at 2,099.

In a tweet by Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, Selangor remains top of the list for most cases at 2,277, followed by 655 in Kuala Lumpur and 615 in Johor.

Selangor consistently hitting 2,000 daily infections over the past week comes as it launched a free statewide mass testing drive earlier this month to detect ‘silent carriers’ of the Covid-19 virus.

Dr Noor Hisham’s tweet also listed 608 new cases in Sarawak, 426 in Kelantan, 417 in Kedah 362 in Penang, 291 in Negri Sembilan, 248 in Perak and 233 in Terengganu.

According to the Health Ministry, all but two Covid-19 cases recorded in the last 24-hour period were local transmissions.

The latest figure puts Malaysia’s nationwide total at 492,302 positive cases recorded since the start of the pandemic.

In subsequent tweets, Dr Noor Hisham later said active cases now stand at 50,171, where 587 patients are admitted to intensive care units with 330 of them requiring breathing assistance.

Separately, 3,916 more patients have also recovered and been discharged by the Health Ministry, bringing the recovery rate to 89.38 per cent with 440,032 recoveries to date.

Today’s deaths were reported in Johor (14), Selangor (10), Kuala Lumpur (8), Kelantan (6), Negri Sembilan and Melaka (4), Kedah, Perak, Terengganu (3), Sarawak (2), Sabah and Penang (1).

The deaths involved individuals aged between 37 and 91, with 42 of the deceased coming from the at-risk category of those aged over 60.

Also reported were 24 more infection clusters spread across Selangor, Penang, Kedah, Sarawak, Terengganu, Johor, Melaka, Kelantan, Sabah, Perak, and Johor.

To date, there have been 1,966 Covid-19 clusters reported nationwide, with 528 of those still reporting new infections, and 1,438 declared ended.