Covid-19: Malaysia logs 1,220 new cases, 54% from Selangor and KL, and three deaths

KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 17): Malaysia today logged 1,220 new Covid-19 cases, with 665 cases or 54% of the lot contributed by Selangor and Kuala Lumpur.

The new additions pushed Malaysia's cumulative confirmed coronavirus cases to 89,133.

Selangor was in fact the top contributor with 368 cases, followed by Kuala Lumpur with 297 and Sabah with 184, according to Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah in a statement.

The bulk or 247 cases from Selangor were traceable to existing Covid-19 clusters and close contacts of confirmed Covid-19 carriers, said Dr Noor Hisham, adding that the remainder came from other Covid-19 screenings — such as those done on individuals with symptoms, pre-surgery screenings, targeted community screenings, workplace screenings and pre-departure screenings.

Also, 135 cases from the daily increase came from prison clusters and temporary detention centres, he said. These comprise 98 cases from the Jalan Harapan prison cluster, 36 cases from the Tembok cluster in Kedah, and one case from Seberang Perai prison cluster in Penang.

The country also recorded three more Covid-19 deaths in the past 24 hours, which raised the number of casualties from the disease here to 432. The deceased were men aged between 36 and 81 years, two in Sabah and one in Johor.

Meanwhile, another 1,297 Covid-19 patients have recovered from the infection, which raised total recoveries from the illness to 74,030 or 83% of overall cases.

With the new recoveries outpacing new infections, active cases — those who carry high transmission risks — dropped to 14,671 from 14,751 on Wednesday.

Today's new cases marked the 15th time this month that Malaysia recorded a four-digit increase in daily cases. The highest daily figure was also recorded this month — 2,234 cases — on Dec 10.

To date, Sabah has the highest cumulative infections at 33,823 among all states and federal territories in the country, followed by Selangor with 22,931 cases, and Kuala Lumpur with 9,426.

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