PUTRAJAYA, 11 June 2020:
After recording the lowest number of new cases on the first day of the Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO), yesterday, the number of new positive cases of Covid-19 today rose again to two figures with 31 new cases.
Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said this pushed the number of Covid-19 positive cases in Malaysia to 8,369 cases with a total number of active cases with infectivity at 1,186 cases.
“Of the 20 cases proliferating locally, 11 cases are imported cases with the infection occurring abroad, 19 are non-citizens and only one is a Malaysian citizen. namely, a case in Selangor during a screening at a tahfiz centre,’’ he told a daily media conference here today.
Dr Noor Hisham said, of the 19 non-citizen cases, 16 cases were from the Pedas Cluster in Negeri Sembilan while the Kampung Sungai Lui Cluster, Selangor and the Kuala Lumpur Cleaning Company Cluster, each recorded one case.
In addition, he also announced a screening case involving a worker in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur.
The 11 imported cases of Malaysians returning from abroad are in stable condition and are being treated at several state hospitals.
Of the total, he said four cases each were in Tumpat Hospital, Kelantan and Sungai Buloh Hospital, Selangor while Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital, Alor Setar, Kedah; Raja Permaisuri Bainun Hospital, Perak and Melaka Hospital had one case each.
“All were screened for the second sample on June 9 and were allowed to return home to continue the quarantine period as the Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO) came into effect from June 10.
“Once the results of the samples were found positive for Covid-19, they were admitted to hospitals. All of them do not have symptoms and are stable. They were hospitalised for observation.”
According to the World Health Organisation guidelines, Covid-19 confirmed cases which do not have symptoms for more than 10 days have no risk of transmission to others, from the date they were confirmed positive.
He also said Malaysia will only be declared free of Covid-19 if no new positive cases recorded for 28 consecutive days.
He said it was in line with the mechanism used to monitor a cluster, which was the length of two cycles of incubation of the virus infection.
“If we look at what we have done to end a cluster by monitoring it for a 28-day period, so we will use it as our benchmark against the infection.”
According to international media reports, New Zealand yesterday declared the country free of Covid-19 after 17 days of no new cases in the country. However, the country still closes its doors to foreign tourists.
– Bernama