Covid-19: New cases drop to nine, five involving Malaysians

KUALA LUMPUR (July 23): Malaysia’s new Covid-19 cases dropped to nine today after four consecutive days of double-digit increases in infections.

Cumulative cases rose to 8,840 with active cases inching up to 143, staying above the 100-mark for the fifth day.

Of the nine new cases, three were imported involving a Malaysian and two foreigners who either have family members living in Malaysia or were allowed to enter the country for work, according to the Ministry of Health (MoH).

“The three imported cases were from [those who returned from] Singapore with one case, India and the Philippines,” said Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah (pictured) in a briefing today.

Meanwhile, the remaining cases were local transmissions involving two foreigners and four Malaysians.

The two cases involving non-Malaysians were detected in Sabah and Kelantan. In Sabah, an inmate who was screened for the coronavirus prior to being released was found to be infected, while in Kelantan, an illegal immigrant had also tested positive just before a group of immigrants was transferred to a detention centre.

Meanwhile for cases involving Malaysians, all four cases were found in Sarawak — one from the Stutong cluster, one from the Sentosa cluster, one from the Kuching engineering cluster while another case is still under investigation as the patient did not have any symptoms and has been admitted to Sarawak General Hospital.

Five patients are currently being treated in the intensive care unit, with two of them needing respiratory assistance.

The Ministry also reported eight new recoveries; a total of 8,574 patients have recovered and discharged so far.

Fortunately, no new death was reported and the death toll remains at 123.

The recovery rate is currently 97% while the mortality rate is 1.39%.

Noor Hisham also expressed concern that the public are flouting the rules and standard operating procedures (SOP) set by the Government to curb Covid-19 infections, which have started to trend in the double digits since hitting a record low of only one case three weeks ago.

He referred to photos that have gone viral on social media of individuals wearing pink wrist tags denoting that they were under the Home Surveillance Order (HSO) but were out in crowded places.

“The latest data from the MySejahtera application showed that 28.8% of individuals who were placed under HSO did not use the Home Assessment Tool function,” he said, adding that the function was part of the mandatory daily self-evaluation programme throughout their self-quarantine.

So far, 31,674 persons under surveillance who returned from abroad had to quarantine themselves for 14 days under the HSO.

He noted that 18,416 returnees have completed their quarantines; however, 10% of them did not undergo Covid-19  screening on the 13th day.

Noor Hisham also pointed out that amid an uptrend in people going outside and downloading the MySejahtera app, the number of check-ins at various commercial premises have reduced, suggesting that more people are ignoring the SOP.

“Owners of these premises and the general public are reminded to continue observing the SOP that has been set to ensure that we can break the chain of Covid-19 infections in the community,” he said.

Stay safe. Keep updated on the latest news at www.EdgeProp.my 

Click here for more property stories.