KUALA LUMPUR, April 28 — Malaysia reported 3,142 new Covid-19 cases today, the highest since almost two months ago on February 24, pushing the nation’s cumulative coronavirus infections to 401,593.
The highest number of cases today were reported in Selangor with 1,019 new infections. Selangor hit four-digit cases today after almost 10 weeks since February 20, when the country’s biggest population reported 1,001 positive cases.
After Selangor, Kelantan recorded the second highest number of Covid-19 cases today (523 cases), followed by Kuala Lumpur (443 cases).
Although Kelantan reported fewer new coronavirus infections than Selangor, Kelantan actually had the highest incidence rate today in Malaysia at about 28 cases per 100,000 population, followed by Kuala Lumpur (25) and Selangor (16). These three states fall under the top three highest daily new infections in the country today, as well as the highest incidence rates.
This means in Kelantan, in every 100,000 people, about 28 people were infected with the Covid-19 virus.
Kelantan (28 cases per 100,000 population), Kuala Lumpur (25 cases per 100,000 population), Selangor (16 cases per 100,000 population), Sarawak (15 cases per 100,000 population), and Putrajaya (12 cases per 100,000 population) today recorded higher Covid-19 incidence rates than the nationwide rate of about 10 cases per population.
The three states with the country’s lowest Covid-19 incidence rates included Perlis (0.4 per 100,000 population), Pahang (0.9), and Sabah (two).
Earlier today, Health Minister Dr Adham Baba said that hospitals in Kelantan are running at over-capacity and that Stage Three Covid-19 patients are being stepped down from hospital care to low-risk quarantine and treatment centres (PKRC), while Category One and Two patients will be home quarantined upon assessment.
Dr Adham also said that due to rising Covid-19 cases in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, the government will be focusing on vaccination in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, including allowing residents to sign up for the AstraZeneca vaccine voluntarily under a separate booking system from the MySejahtera app.
As compared to other ASEAN countries, as of April 25, Malaysia recorded the third highest cumulative Covid-19 cases (392,942), after Indonesia (1.64 million) and the Philippines (997,523).
Cumulative Covid-19 cases in Singapore were below 100,000, while Vietnam only recorded 2,843 cumulative cases as of April 25.
Meanwhile, in terms of cumulative cases per one million population, Malaysia had 12,311 Covid-19 cases per 1,000,000 population, highest compared to all ASEAN countries, as of April 27.
Singapore had the second highest Covid-19 cases per 1,000,000 population (10,437), followed by Philippines (9,250), and Indonesia (6,039).Â
The Ministry of Health (MOH) reported 12 new clusters today, among which four were educational clusters, two workplace clusters, four community clusters, one high-risk group cluster, and one religious cluster.
Out of the 12 new clusters reported today, three were reported in Selangor, two in Sarawak, one in Sabah, two in Kedah, one in Perak, two in Johor, and one in Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysia reported 15 Covid-19 deaths today, bringing the death toll to 1,477. The two youngest deaths reported today was a 30-year-old male with underlying hypertension and gout who was brought in dead to Bintulu Hospital and a 37-year-old male with underlying diabetes, obesity, and asthma in Penang Hospital.
A total of three brought-in-dead cases were reported in Sarawak, in which two of them were below 40 years of age and one was 52 years old.