Covid-19: 871 fresh cases, 7 deaths

KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia today recorded 871 Covid-19 cases, the highest daily toll since the start of the pandemic.

This brings the national tally to 20,498, of which 7,049 are active cases, said Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah in his daily update.

He said only five of the fresh infections were imported.

Dr Noor Hisham reported another seven virus fatalities, taking the death toll to 187.

Six of the deaths – four locals and two foreigners – occurred in Sabah.

The country also saw a record 701 patients making a recovery, driving the total up to 13,262.

“Presently, there are 86 patients being treated in the intensive care unit, 28 of whom are on ventilators,” said Dr Noor Hisham.

Of the new cases, he said, 702 are in Sabah, followed by 77 in Selangor and Penang (45).

The others are in Perak (10), Labuan (9), Kedah (9), Kuala Lumpur (7), Sarawak (5), Negri Sembilan (3), Terengganu (2), Johor (1) and Melaka (1).

The spike in Sabah is due to the large volume of samples submitted for testing, he said.

“Since the start of the pandemic, the government has conducted Covid-19 screening on 251,030 individuals in the state. As of today, the positivity rate in Sabah is at 2.96%.”

He said a new cluster has been detected in Sabah, namely the Kepayan Prison cluster, which has 49 cases to date.

“The first case was identified on October 14 at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kota Kinabalu. Close-contact screening later found another 48 cases.”

Three other clusters have been identified – the Bah Layangan cluster in Labuan and Rembau, Negri Sembilan, with 13 cases, Alma cluster in Seberang Prai Selatan and Tengah in Penang (7), and Auto cluster in Petaling, Kuala Langat and Klang (9). – The Vibes, October 18, 2020