MCO day 380: Daily new Covid-19 cases at 1,178 & another 6 deaths

PUTRAJAYA, 1 April 2021:

Another 1,178 new infections over the past 24 hours has raised Malaysia’s overall Covid-19 total to 346,678.

This was outpaced by 1,377 discharges to bring overall recoveries to 331,001 (95.48%). The 14,399 active cases include 163 at intensive case units and 81 needing ventilators.

There were nine Malaysians among the 20 imported cases, local transmissions involved 861 citizens (74.4%) and 297 foreigners.

Sarawak (238) and Selangor (237) led in number of new Covid-19 cases, followed by Penang (190) and Johor (165). Perlis was the only state without any new infections, others reporting single digits are Putrajaya (1), Terengganu (6), Labuan (7) and Melaka (9) as double-digit cases were reported in the remaining states.

There were another six deaths – two in Sarawak plus one each in Johor, Kelantan, Kuala Lumpur and Sabah – to bring the number of fatalities to 1,278.

With six new clusters identified, the sole community cluster is at Taman Emas (Pahang) while those workplace-related are in Johor (Jalan Permas Cetak and Kait Gading), Selangor (Bukit Serdang and Jalan Sungai Ramal) plus Penang (Jalan Teluk Kumbar). As 14 clusters ended today, 362 remain active out of the 1,378 identified todate.

In a statement, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said Malaysia has confirmed in March 2021 four cases infected with the more virulent South African B.1.351 strain of Covid-19, plus another five subsequently.

He said these infections were traced to the Jalan Lima cluster – where two are staff of a company based at KL International Airport, but stressed the infection source has yet to be identified and this cluster had ended on Monday, March 29, with another case since identified..

He said the third of the first set of cases with South African B.1.351 infection was traced to the Kebun Baru cluster in Sepang, Selangor while the fourth case is the housemate of the third patient. This cluster remains active and another four cases with this South African B.1.351 strain infection has been further identified.