Covid-19 (Dec 28): 1,594 new infections, another record for active cases

COVID-19 | The Health Ministry today reported 1,594 new Covid-19 cases.

Selangor is still in the lead in the number of new cases, but Kuala Lumpur, Sabah, Negeri Sembilan, and Johor also reported triple-digit figures.

Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah told a press conference there were 1,181 recoveries today.

However, this still leaves a record-high of 20,643 Covid-19 active cases, marking the third consecutive day a new record has been set.

Leading indicators:

• Active cases: 20,643 ↑ (410 more than the previous day, new record)
• Patients in ICU: 116 ↑ ( Five more than the previous day)
• Intubated patients: 53↑ (Three more than previous day)
• Deaths: 3 ↑ (Two more than the previous day)

Two of the deaths occurred in Selangor, while the other was in Sabah. All three were Malaysians.

The latest fatalities put the death toll at 455, representing a mortality rate of 0.43 percent.

Details of the three victims are as follows:

Patient 73,341 – Female, 62. Died at Sungai Buloh Hospital, Selangor. Had a history of diabetes and obesity.

Patient 89,863 – Male, 90. Died at Sungai Buloh Hospital, Selangor. Had a history of high blood pressure, dyslipidaemia and gout.

Patient 101,587 – Male, 62. Died at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Had a history of high blood pressure.

Noor Hisham said laboratories nationwide conducted 19,746 RT-PCR tests for the disease yesterday, out of a daily capacity of 59,555 tests. This represents 33 percent of the country’s testing capacity.

For Selangor’s 697 cases, 104 were classified as having been detected through “other screening”.

According to the state Health Department, 32 of these had sought testing after developing symptoms, while another seven had undergone voluntary testing at private laboratories.

Learn more about "other screenings" here.

A breakdown of the new cases are as follows:

Selangor (697)

Existing clusters: 362

Close contact: 231

Other screenings: 104

Kuala Lumpur (194)

Existing clusters: 102

New clusters (Jalan Gadang Construction Site, Menara Sri): 2

Close contact: 56

Imported: 1

Other screenings: 33

Johor (191)

Existing clusters: 48

New cluster (Bukit Pasi): 2

Close contact: 64

Other screenings: 77

Negeri Sembilan (160)

Existing clusters: 103

Close contact: 24

Other screenings: 33

Sabah (157)

Existing clusters: 17

Close contact: 79

Other screenings: 61

Penang (69)

Existing clusters: 17

Close contact: 47

Other screenings: 5

Perak (47)

Existing clusters: 26

New cluster (Menara Sri): 1

Close contact: 14

Other screenings: 6

Kelantan (28)

Existing clusters: 6

New cluster (Pintu Geng): 9

Close contact: 9

Other screenings: 4

Malacca (14)

Close contact: 12

Other screenings: 2

Kedah (12)

Existing clusters: 5

Close contact: 5

Other screenings: 2

Pahang (11)

Existing clusters: 10

Other screenings: 1

Putrajaya (9)

New cluster (Putra 15): 7

Close contact: 1

Other screenings: 1

Terengganu (3)

Close contact: 3

Sarawak (2)

Imported: 2

Labuan and Perlis are the only states and territories that did not report any Covid-19 cases today.

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry reported 214 active Covid-19 clusters, including 54 with new cases detected today.

The ones with the largest increases are the Hentian cluster with 261 new cases, the Penjara Jalan Harapan cluster (42), and Ceram cluster (40).

The Hentian cluster was originally linked to migrant workers based around the Kajang bus terminal but has since spread elsewhere. Most of the latest cases (248 out of 261) were recorded in the surrounding Semenyih sub-district rather than Kajang.

The Penjara Jalan Harapan cluster is linked to the Kajang prison, while the Ceram cluster is located in Seremban.

The Health Ministry also identified five new clusters today.

The Jalan Gadang Construction Site cluster was detected in Kuala Lumpur’s Lembah Pantai and Cheras districts, after large-scale workplace screening began turning up Covid-19 cases since Dec 13.

So far, 13 cases have been detected out of 375 people screened.

The Menara Sri cluster is a workplace cluster involving the Cheras, Kepong, Lembah Pantai, and Titiwangsa districts of Kuala Lumpur, and the Kerian district in Perak.

The index case of this cluster had undergone Covid-19 testing after developing symptoms and was diagnosed on Dec 24. The cluster has 14 cases so far, out of 51 people screened.

The Bukit Pasir cluster is another workplace cluster, this time in Muar district, Johor. The index case tested positive on Dec 24 after reporting symptoms, and nine cases have been detected so far out of 14 people screened.

In Kota Bharu, Kelantan, the Pintu Geng cluster was detected after the index case tested positive on Dec 25 following the emergence of symptoms. There are 21 cases out of 130 people screened so far.

The Putra 15 cluster is yet another workplace cluster, located in Putrajaya.

The index case tested positive on Dec 26 after reporting symptoms, and eight cases have been detected so far out of 31 people screened.