KUALA LUMPUR, March 20 — Health authorities today reported a third Covid-19 fatality, a 58-year-old man from Sabah who attended a tabligh gathering linked to most coronavirus cases in Malaysia.
Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said Patient 152 was a Malaysian who was hospitalised on March 9 in Tawau Hospital for severe acute respiratory infection. He was given breathing aid and warded in the intensive care unit (ICU) on the same day.
“His health deteriorated day by day and died on March 20 at 6.27pm. Condolences to his family,” Dr Noor Hisham said.
Malaysia has reported 1,030 Covid-19 cases as of today, including 26 patients under intensive care. A total of 624 of the 1,030 infections came from a Muslim religious gathering at the Sri Petaling mosque here.
At over 1,000 cases, Malaysia is now the worst-affected country in Southeast Asia, with the third highest infections in Asia after South Korea and China, where the coronavirus originated from.
Two coronavirus deaths were previously reported — a 34-year-old man from Johor without any previous health problems who had attended the tabligh event, as well as a 60-year-old man in Sarawak who had a history of diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia (unhealthy levels of one or more kinds of fat in the blood).
Update at 9.55pm:
Dr Noor Hisham told CodeBlue that the 58-year-old Sabahan who died from coronavirus did not have any known medical illness and was a non-smoker.
