KUALA LUMPUR, April 6 — Malaysia has recorded its highest number of Covid-19 recoveries in a day so far with 236 patients discharged today, the Ministry of Health announced.

Health Director-General Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the total recoveries from Covid-19 now stand at 1,241 cases, or 32.72 per cent of the total Covid-19 cases recorded so far.

An additional 131 Covid-19 cases were confirmed today, which means the total cumulative tally of Covid-19 cases in Malaysia as of noon today stands at 3,793 cases.

Out of the 2,490 cases still being treated, 102 of them are in Intensive Care Units (ICUs), with 54 of the 102 ICU patients requiring respiratory support.

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The death toll from Covid-19 now stands at 62 cases, after one additional death was reported today.

The 62 deaths represent 1.63 per cent of the 3,793 cases recorded in Malaysia so far.

The 62nd Covid-19 death is Case 3,663 or a 67-year-old Malaysian man who had a history of diabetes and hypertension, as well as a history of having had close contact with several Covid-19 cases from the tabligh cluster at mass gathering held at the Sri Petaling mosque (namely Cases 1,265, 1,266, 1,267, 1,404 and 2,549).

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This man was treated at the Hospital Sultanah Nur Zahirah in Terengganu on March 29 and was verified to have died at 10.22 am on April 5.

The goal of having MCO
In a subsequent Facebook post that celebrated the new recoveries today, the Health Ministry said this was the first time since the government’s Movement Control Order was imposed that the daily number of discharged cases have exceeded the daily addition of new Covid-19 cases.

During the press conference today, Dr Noor Hisham said the purpose of the MCO was to reduce the number of Covid-19 infections, pointing out that Covid-19 cases are no longer just from abroad but are already within the community.

“That’s why we encourage all to stay at home. So if we stay at home, we will break the chain of person-to-person transmission. And our goal with MCO is not to end Covid-19 infection, but the main goal is to reduce the infection cases.

“So when we stay at home, we can reduce cases, not to slow the spread of Covid-19, but to reduce cases,” he said, adding that this would prevent an “exponential spike” in Covid-19 cases where thousands are admitted daily and which would prevent hospitals from giving the best treatment to patients.

Empowering the community
As for enhanced Movement Control Orders (EMCO) currently in place in three areas, Dr Noor Hisham said this was to enable the Health Ministry to carry out active detection of Covid-19 cases—together with the police’s assistance --- to ensure that high-risk groups and suspected cases in a particular community are tested.

This has resulted in new cases being identified, such as in the two villages in Simpang Renggam, Kluang where a total of 170 of the 3,755 residents there have now tested positive, with these areas adding on 23 cases compared to yesterday’s tally of 147 cases.

These 23 new cases today are in the Ulu Benut mukim in Kluang, while the other mukims here remain the same as of yesterday with Kluang at 18, Machap at four and Nyior at one.

As for the seven villages in Hulu Selangor which are under an EMCO, Dr Noor Hisham said that 11 additional cases were identified today, bringing the tally to 339 cases.

The Menara City One condominium in Kuala Lumpur that is under an EMCO has a current tally of 24 cases, he said.

Dr Noor Hisham said the government is trying to focus on narrowed-down locations in a hotspot area instead of the entire area, citing Menara City One as an example after an increase of cases in Masjid India in high-density Kuala Lumpur was detected.

“But now we are looking into the possibility of empowering our community, for example if there is a committee looking after that condominium, empower them to safeguard that area.

Orang Asli as well as longhouses have already implemented this, they make sure high-risk groups are not allowed to come in the community.

“So if you can do that, that means you are protecting your green area. So your green area, it is important for us. I hope this is another empowerment, community empowerment. You take care of your home, you take care of your community, if that’s the case, then probably we can review back how we can implement this MCO, but more importantly MCO is to help us reduce the cases,” he said.

There are currently 30 green zones or 30 districts throughout Malaysia that have yet to record any Covid-19 cases.

A poster by the Health Ministry’s MyHealth portal had encouraged communities in green zones to protect their community and maintain their green zone status by taking various steps, including to limit and record the entry and exit of visitors and local residents, to report to the community leader or police when group activities are detected, to mobilise the existing residents’ committee as a coordinator for Covid-19 prevention activities in the community, and to report any suspected Covid-19 cases to authorities.