KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 8 (NNN-BERNAMA) — Malaysia is currently entering the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, said Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
In this regard, Dr Noor Hisham reminded the people to once again join forces to break the chain of the infection.
“We have now entered the third wave of #COVID19. Once again we must work together to break the chain of infection. #KitaJagaKita,” he said in a post on his Facebook account here tonight.
Earlier during his daily press conference, he said that all states in the country except Perlis recorded new positive COVID-19 cases today bringing the total number of new cases to 375, including the emergence of five new clusters.
Dr Noor Hisham said of the total, 371 were local transmissions and the other four were imported cases, with the highest number recorded in Sabah at 271 cases.
“Of the 371 cases of local transmission, 342 cases involved Malaysians and another 29 cases were foreigners while all imported cases involved foreigners travelling from India (two cases) and Belgium (two cases),” he said in the press conference streamed via Facebook.
This brings the total number of positive cases to 14,368 with the total number of active COVID-19 cases with infectivity at 3,703, he said.
Meanwhile, there are 18 recovered cases reported, bringing the cumulative number of fully recovered cases to 10,519 or 73.21 per cent of the total number of cases.
Dr Noor Hisham said that there were five deaths related to COVID-19 reported in Sabah, involving locals, bringing the total number of fatalities to 146, or 1.02 per cent of the total cases.
“The 142nd death involved a 55-year-old man with diabetes, high blood pressure and dyslipidemia; the 143rd death involving a 75-year-old woman who had high blood pressure; the 144th death was a 57-year-old man with diabetes and high blood pressure; the 145th death was an 82-year-old man while the 146th death was a 53-year-old man who also had diabetes,” he said.
He said that thus far there were 60 positive cases being treated at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), with 20 cases requiring respiratory assistance.
Detailing the local transmission cases in the country today, in states apart from Sabah, Selangor has 36 cases, Kedah (16), Kuala Lumpur (10), Labuan (10), Sarawak (six), Terengganu, Johor and Perak five cases each, Putrajaya and Negeri Sembilan each have two cases; while Melaka, Pahang and Penang have one case each.
Dr Noor Hisham said that a total of 18 cases were detected from the Tembok, Benteng Lahad Datu and Penjara Reman clusters.
“They (these clusters) cover 4.8 per cent of the total number of cases today and all the positive cases in these isolated clusters are in areas placed under administrative Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO) and in prisons.
“This means that they are isolated from the community,” he said, adding that of the remaining cases, 50 cases were recorded in other clusters, 303 cases reported in the community and four are imported cases.
Meanwhile, he said that 18 cases involved visitors returning from Sabah, thus making the number of cases reported to have a history of travel to Sabah since Sept 20 to be 301.
Answering a question on the need to reopen the COVID-19 Quarantine and Treatment Centre at the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang (MAEPs) he said there was no need to do so at this point.
He explained that Sungai Buloh Hospital is still able to accommodate patients with a capacity of 400 beds and said that if there is a need, the ministry only needs three days to reopen the centre.
— BERNAMA
