KUALA LUMPUR, April 9 – Malaysia has recorded the youngest death due to Covid-19 today, as total fatalities reach 67, according to the Ministry of Health (MOH).
Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said a 23-year-old Malaysian woman from Sarawak (Patient 2,864), with a history of thyroid disease, died after close contact with two Covid-19 patients. She was a fifth-generation infection from the cluster of the Kuching church conference that she did not attend.
MOH reported 109 new coronavirus infections today, the lowest daily increase since 106 new cases on March 24. Two new fatalities were reported today, including the 23-year-old woman.
“The 66th death (case 2798) was a 59-year-old Malaysian citizen with a background in autoimmune diseases and several other chronic diseases. He had a history of attending the gathering in Sri Petaling,” Dr Noor Hisham said in a statement.
On today’s development of positive cases, Dr Noor Hisham announced that 121 patients have recovered from Covid-19 as at 12 pm today, bringing the total discharged cases to 1,608, which is 38 per cent of total cases.
A total of 109 new cases were registered today, bringing the total number of Covid-19 infections in Malaysia to 4,228 cases.
“This means that the number of cases discharged [from hospital] today also exceeds the number of new cases reported,” he added.
Furthermore, 72 cases are in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) as at 12pm today, with 43 of them on ventilator support.
Apart from that, the DG also said that 416 positive cases, including two deaths, have involved foreigners in Malaysia.
“From those numbers, 51 cases are Indonesians, 37 are Indians, 31 are Burmese, 29 are Pakistanis and 27 are Filipino,” he said.
“MOH is working closely with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to ensure that foreigners are also covered in preventive and control activities undertaken by the government.
“In addition, the MOH also received a lot of assistance from non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and volunteers in conducting field surveillance activities with the involvement of members at the District Health Office level.”
As for laboratory capacity for screening tests, the DG said that initially, the Institute for Medical Research (IMR) was the only laboratory involved in conducting the Covid-19 screening test in Malaysia.
“The laboratory capacity has now been expanded and strengthened to include 43 laboratories from the public, universities and the private sector. Currently, the maximum capacity of the lab to conduct Covid-19 detection and validation tests is 11,546,” he added.
