KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 15 (NNN-XINHUA) – Malaysia reported 660 new COVID-19 infections, the Health Ministry said on Wednesday, bringing the national total to 17,540.
Health Ministry Director-General, Noor Hisham Abdullah, said that, six of the new cases are imported and 654 are local transmissions.
Four more deaths have been reported, bringing the death toll to 167.
The majority of new cases are from the eastern state of Sabah, with 429 of the new cases reported.
Another 233 patients have been released after recovery, bringing the total cured and discharged to 11,605, or 66.2 percent of all cases.
Of the remaining 5,768 active cases, 108 are being held in intensive care and 35 of those are in need of assisted breathing equipment.
Meanwhile, Defence Minister, Ismail Sabri Yaakob, told a separate press conference that, 282 roadblocks have been set up nationwide, in a bid to restrict movement, to slow the spread of COVID-19.
The restrictions are in force in Kuala Lumpur, the administrative centre of Putrajaya, as well as, the adjacent Selangor state, from Oct 14 to 27, and also in the country’s eastern Sabah state from Oct 13 to 26.
Separately, the country’s armed forces, said that, personnel have been mobilised, to assist in roadblocks and to airlift medical supplies and other items to Sabah, which has seen the highest number of new COVID-19 cases in the country.– NNN-XINHUA