PUTRAJAYA, 31 March 2020:
A total of 140 new Covid-19 cases were reported in the country as at noon today, bringing cumulative cases to 2,766 .
Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said six more deaths due to the pandemic were recorded from noon yesterday, which brings the death toll to 43 or 1.55% of total cases.
“The 38th death (case 2269) was a 48-year-old Malaysian woman who had a history of high blood pressure and was a contact of case 2750.
“She was admitted to the Tuanku Jaafar Hosptal, Negeri Sembilan on March 25 and died at 4.04pm yesterday (March 30),” he told the daily press conference to update on the Covid-19 situation in the country, here this afternoon.
Dr Noor Hisham said the 39th death (case 2626) was a 69-year-old Malaysian man with a history of diabetes and hypertension.
The patient had travel history to Saudi Arabia and died at home on March 27 before his remains were brought to the Kuala Lumpur Hospital where tests confirmed he was positive for Covid-19.
“As for the 40th fatality (case 2627), the victim was a local man aged 69 and also had a history of diabetes and hypertension.” The patient was treated at Enche’ Besar Hajjah Khalsom Hospital, Johor and died at 1.03pm on March 26.
The 41st involved a 40-year-old Indonesian man who was admitted to the Sarawak General Hospital on March 20. He died at 1.38am today.
The director-general said this was the first Covid-19 death involving a foreigner in the country. He said the 42nd (case 2628) involved an 81-year-old man with a background of heart problems and was admitted to the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) on March 27. The patient died at 7.09am today.
“The 43rd death (case 2629) was a 73-year-old man with a history of diabetes and heart problems. He was admitted to the Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital, Klang on March 29 and died at 4.30pm yesterday,” said Dr Noor Hisham.
Meanwhile, he said 58 patients recovered and were discharged today, bringing the number of cases having recovered and discharged to 537 (19.4% of the total cases).
He added that 94 patients were being treated at the Intensive Care Unit with 60 requiring the aid of ventilators.
Statistics point to people from the age of 26 to 30 years and from 56 to 60 years as the most number among those found to be COVID-19 positive, Dr Noor Hisham.
He said those in the 26-30 age group could be Malaysian students or others who have returned from abroad and those in the 56-60 age group could be the heads of households who have to leave home often to buy essential goods.
“The young people may be students or others who have returned from abroad, or they may have been going out frequently during the MCO (Movement Control Order) period to meet up.
“The second category could be the heads of households who go out often to buy essential items and so on. They may have been infected on these trips.”
During the first two weeks of the implementation of the MCO beginning March 18, the daily trend has shown an increase, and occasionally sideways, in new cases recorded, he noted.
Dr Noor Hisham said during the same period the number of daily discharged cases had also increased.
During the first week of the MCO (March 18-25), the daily new cases were between 117 and 212 cases, while in the second week (March 21-31) showed the highest number of new cases recorded at 235 and the lowest was at 130 cases.
“This data shows the impact of the activities conducted by the Ministry of Health and various agencies in the last one month (including during the MCO period).
“The next two weeks (the second phase of the MCO) is crucial as it will indicate whether steps that were taken by the government so far have the desired impact.”
– Bernama