Six more succumb to Covid-19 as 140 new cases reported

Updated 6.50pm: CORONAVIRUS | Six more people have died from Covid-19 as of noon today, according to Health Ministry director-general Noor Hisham Abdullah.

This brings the death toll to 43 since the start of the outbreak.

He also reported 140 new Covid-19 infections, raising the total to 2,766.

As for the number of Covid-19 patients in intensive care units (ICU), the figure remains at 94.

The number of people in ICU requiring ventilators to breathe fell from 62 to 60 following the deaths.

Meanwhile, another 58 Covid-19 patients have recovered and were discharged. This brings the total recoveries to 537 cases.

The newly reported deaths are as follow:

Patient 2,269 (38th death)

A 48-year-old Malaysian woman who had a history of high blood pressure. She was a close contact of Patient 2,750. She was treated at Tuanku Ja'afar Hospital, Negri Sembilan on March 25. She passed away on March 30, at 4.04pm.

Patient 2,626 (39th death)

A 69-year-old Malaysian man who had a history of diabetes and high blood pressure. He had a travel history to Saudi Arabia. He passed away at his home on March 27 and his body was brought to Kuala Lumpur Hospital.

Patient 2,627 (40th death)

A 69-year-old Malaysian man who had a history of diabetes and high blood pressure. He was treated at Enche' Besar Hajjah Khalsom Hospital in Johor. He passed away on March 26 at 1.03pm.

Patient 1,275 (41st death)

A 40-year-old Indonesian man who is also the first foreign national to die of Covid-19 in Malaysia. He was treated at Sarawak General Hospital on March 20. He passed away on March 31 at 1.38am.

Patient 2,628 (42nd death)

An 81-year Malaysian man who had a history of heart disease. He was treated at Universiti Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) on March 27. He passed away on March 31 at 7.09am.

Patient 2,629 (43rd death)

A 73-year-old Malaysian man who had a history of diabetes and heart disease. He was treated at Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital, Klang on March 29. He passed away on March 30 at 4.30pm.

"The Health Ministry conveys its condolences to their family members," said Noor Hisham.

He said based on statistics to date, the most number of infections are from the age group of 26-30 and 56-60.

He added that the trend of cases continues to increase and occasionally flattens.

"This data is the outcome of KKM and various agencies' efforts in the last month.

"However, the next two weeks will be crucial in determining whether what the government has done will yield the desired outcome.

"It relates closely with society's compliance with the Movement Control Order," he said.

In an effort to combat the coronavirus, the country has gone into a partial lockdown since March 18.

The MCO was supposed to end today but was extended until April 14.

Under the MCO, all non-essential businesses and services must close while people are only allowed to leave their homes for pressing reasons such as to restock food supply.

The measures have brought a large section of the country's economy to a standstill.

Globally, there are 786,907 cases to date with 37,480 deaths to date.

Keep up with the latest information on the outbreak in the country with Malaysiakini's free Covid-19 tracker.

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