PUTRAJAYA, 31 May 2020:
A total of 57 new Covid-19 cases were reported in the country today, taking the case tally to 7,819.
Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said of the 57 cases, 10 were imported ones who got infected abroad.
“Of the 47 local transmissions, 43 involve foreigners while only four are Malaysians,” he said at the daily media briefing here today.
No deaths were recorded overnight with the death toll remaining at 115 fatalities. The number of infectivity cases stands at 1,351 and the patients have been isolated and given treatment, he said.
Dr Noor Hisham said 23 patients had recovered and were discharged today, while nine were still being treated in the intensive care unit, with two of them needing ventilator support.
He said the Ministry of Health has detected three new clusters involving foreigners in Pahang.
He said the clusters involved 15 foreigners – namely the Bera farm cluster, in Bera (seven cases); the sawmill cluster in Maran (six) and the construction company cluster (two), also in Maran.
“The clusters were detected following random samples collected by health offices in the districts. When some of them tested positive, we immediately carried out active case detections, where the positive cases were isolated, and those who tested negative, quarantined for 14 days.”
The source of infection for the three new clusters is under investigation, he added.
When asked if the source of infection for the outbreak at the Immigration detention centres in Semenyih, Selangor; Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur; and Putrajaya had been discovered, Dr Noor Hisham said investigations were still ongoing.
He also stressed the dangers of smoking, and warned smokers they stand a higher risk of contracting Covid-19.
“Smoking has been proven to be the cause of many illnesses as well as weaken the immunity system, which makes smokers more susceptible to bacterial and virus infections, especially during the Covid-19 outbreak.
“The World Health Organisation (WHO), in its statement on May 27, which is supported by several research findings, said smokers have a higher risk of suffering from complications if they were to contract Covid-19.
“This is because it is an infectious disease that mainly attacks the lungs and smoking damages the lung’s functions.”
In conjunction with World No Tobacco Day marked on May 31 every year, Dr Noor Hisham said this year’s theme in Malaysia is “Youths Must Be Protected”.
As such, he said besides the younger generation, the Health Ministry (MOH) is urging all levels of society to stay away from the smoking habit and lead a healthier lifestyle.
Dr Noor Hisham noted tobacco use kills eight million people globally every year, and from those, 1.2 million fatalities were caused by second-hand smoke.
– Bernama