MCO day 19: Less than 200 new Covid-19 cases

PUTRAJAYA, 5 April 2020:

A total of 179 new positive cases of Covid-19 and four more fatalities have been reported in the country as at noon today, bringing the tally to 3,662 cases and 61 deaths.

Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said 46 of the 179 new cases were linked to the tabligh assembly cluster in Seri Petaling, Kuala Lumpur.

He noted the Covid-19 situation in the country is showing some positive developments after the total number of recovered cases and discharged patients breached the 1,000 mark today. This day alone, 90 fully recovered patients were discharged.

“This brings the cumulative cases of fully recovered and discharged patients to 1,005, which is 27.44% of the total number of Covid-19 cases.”

The 61 deaths accounted for 1.67% of the total number of cases, he told a daily media briefing on Covid-19 here today.

“The 58th fatality (case 2,210) was a 72-year-old Malaysian man who had a history of diabetes and high blood pressure. He was a close contact of a positive case (1,031). He was treated at the Sarawak General Hospital on March 27 and was confirmed to have died at 1.37pm on April 4.”

Dr Noor Hisham said the 59th death (case 3,484) involved a 68-year-old local man with a history of diabetes. He was admitted to the Kuala Lumpur General Hospital on March 27 and died at 3.40pm on April 4.

He said the 60th death was that of a 53-year-old Malaysian man (case 3,073), who was admitted to the Sarawak General Hospital on March 31 and confirmed to have died at 12.39am on April 5.

“The 61st fatality (case 2,200) was a 66-year-old Malaysian man with a history of diabetes, high blood pressure and kidney disease. He was admitted to the Keningau Hospital, Sabah on March 26 and died at 9.36pm on April 4.”

Dr Noor Hisham said 99 cases were being treated at the Intensive Care Unit and 48 of them were on ventilators.

He said the Health Ministry (MoH) does not regard the daily increase of Covid-19 cases in the country as a sharp rise, explaining the new cases reported daily were due to active case detection being carried out in areas under the Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO).

“I would say there is a spike only if there are suddenly 1,000 or 2,000 cases a day in Malaysia. So far so good. The data is still at a plateau, no sudden surge.”

Dr Noor Hisham said an example of a sudden surge would be like in the US – where 25,000 positive Covid-19 cases were reported in one day.

“How can Malaysia handle 25,000 cases? Our hospitals won’t have enough space. This is the problem when there is a sudden surge in cases.”

At the moment, he said the detection of new cases in Malaysia was at a rate of 7-8% of the total number of confirmation tests conducted.

Meanwhile, one red zone location in Kuala Lumpur and another two in Selangor recorded more than 300 positive cases of Covid-19 – the highest number in an area so far, according to the Ministry of Health’s National Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre (CPRC).

In a statement posted on Telegram application, CPRC said they comprised Lembah Pantai district in Kuala Lumpur with 367 cases, while two districts in Selangor, namely Petaling and Hulu Langat, had 308 and 307 cases respectively.

“If there is a sudden increase in cases in one area, Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO) will be implemented to prevent the infection from spreading.” The number of red zones identified remains 17 districts and so far, there is no increase, it said.

Other red zone districts, which the number of confirmed Covid-19 positive cases exceeds 41, are Kepong and Titiwangsa in the federal capital; Gombak and Klang in Selangor; Batu Pahat, Johor Bahru and Kluang in Johor.

Hilir Perak and Kinta in Perak; Kota Bharu, Kelantan; Tawau, Sabah; Kuching, Sarawak; Jerantut, Pahang as well as Seremban, Negeri Sembilan.

– Bernama