KUALA LUMPUR, April 15 — After 42 days of reporting fewer than 2,000 daily Covid-19 cases, Malaysia reported 2,148 coronavirus infections today, the highest 24-hour increase since March 5 with 2,154 cases.
This brings the cumulative number of Covid-19 cases in Malaysia to 367,977 cases, the Ministry of Health (MOH) reported.
The highest number of cases were reported in Sarawak (512 cases), followed by Selangor (459 cases), and Kelantan (221 cases).
Meanwhile, Sabah, which was the epicentre of the third Covid-19 wave in Malaysia late last year, has been reporting below 200 daily cases since February 6. However, 69 days later, Sabah reported 202 Covid-19 cases today.
Ten Covid-19 deaths were reported today, including one brought in dead to Duchess of Kent Hospital in Sandakan, Sabah — a 54-year-old foreign woman.
MOH reported 15 new Covid-19 clusters nationwide today, pushing active clusters to 346. The 15 clusters were detected in Kelantan (five), Sabah (four), Selangor (two), and one each in Kuala Lumpur, Johor, Terengganu, and Kedah. Out of the 15 clusters, five originated from education centres, including four in Kelantan and one in Sabah.
Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah also reported two Covid-19 cases with the UK’s B.1.1.7 variant in Malaysian travellers who had visited Poland last month. They had tested positive last March 30. This brings the total coronavirus cases with the UK variant in Malaysia to five.
“Phylogenetic analysis shows that the fourth case infected with the UK B.1.1.7 variant had significant similarities with the variant from Poland and a high likelihood of getting infected in that country. However, the source of infection for the fifth case could not be determined because analysis showed a difference in the variant in that case. This also shows that these two cases got infected from different sources,” he said.
Health Minister Dr Adham Baba told a press conference at Putrajaya today that MOH has proposed a delay in lifting interstate travel restrictions during Hari Raya, as he said Malaysia’s Covid-19 outbreak is still at a worrying level.
MOH has yet to report if the country is seeing a fourth wave of the epidemic.
Yesterday, MOH said 17 locally transmitted Covid-19 cases in Malaysia have been detected with the more contagious South African variant (B.1.351) in Selangor among three clusters originating from Hulu Langat, Sepang, and Kuala Langat, as well as close contact screenings.
