KUALA LUMPUR – The country today recorded 823 new coronavirus cases, taking its tally to 26,565, of which 9,202 are active.
Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah reported another eight virus fatalities, all in Sabah, pushing up the death toll to 229.
He said 99 patients are in intensive care, with 30 on ventilators.
Another 579 recoveries see the overall figure hitting 17,134.
Nine new clusters have been detected, four of which are in Sabah.
The state accounted for the majority of the fresh infections with 533 cases, of which 67 are at Kepayan Prison.
Dr Noor Hisham said the Health Ministry has ramped up efforts to trace cases in Sabah, which has 17 red zones.
He said 160 of Sabah’s new cases are from clusters, including 27 from the four new ones of Titir, Omadal, Bandaran and Jambul, while 270 were detected in close-contact screening and 103 in virus testing.
Sabah’s spokesman on Covid-19 matters, Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun, said most of the state’s fresh cases are in Sandakan with 167, followed by Kota Kinabalu with 162.
As of today, he said, the state has registered 11,818 cases, with 6,525 of them active, while 5,195 patients have recovered.
He said the distribution of food baskets has been smooth, with 87,299 baskets given out to date.
Masidi said his daily press conference on Covid-19 will be postponed until further notice, and in the meantime, he will issue statements on daily updates. – The Vibes, October 25, 2020