KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 2 — A total of 14 new Covid-19 cases has been reported in Malaysia today, Health Director-General Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said.
Dr Noor Hisham said one of the new cases is an imported case involving a non-citizen from the Philippines who was infected abroad, while the remaining 13 cases are locally transmitted and all involving Malaysians.
With the addition of these 14 cases, Malaysia has so far recorded a cumulative total of 8,999 cases, with 210 patients still undergoing treatment.
Of the 13 locally transmitted cases, two were detected through Covid-19 screening at the Labuan international sea entry involving a student from Sandakan, Sabah who was to start studies in Labuan and another from Penampang, Sabah who was on a holiday trip with family to Labuan.
As for the remaining 11 of the 13 locally transmitted cases, these were from the Sivagangga person-under-investigation cluster.
Additions to Sivagangga cluster in Kedah
On July 28, the Health Ministry announced a new cluster in Kedah named the PUI Sivagangga cluster after its index case (Case 8,937) — a permanent resident and restaurant owner who initially tested negative for Covid-19 upon return from India on July 13 but was said to have violated home quarantine rules and subsequently tested positive.
Five of the index case’s close contacts also tested positive on July 28 namely four foreign workers at his restaurant and one relative, while two Malaysians tested positive on July 31 as part of this cluster. These seven men are the first generation of the Sivagangga cluster.
Today’s 11 new cases are close contacts of the two Malaysian men who tested positive on July 31 under this cluster, which means the 11 cases form part of the second generation of the Sivagangga cluster.
The Health Ministry provided details of the 11 new cases arising from those who had been in close contact with the first generation’s Case 8,975 and Case 8,976.
Eight close contacts of the first generation’s Case 8,975 (Male, 35 years old) were today reported to have tested positive, ranging from those aged two to 56, namely: a 34-year-old female (Case 8,992), a male aged seven (Case 8,993), a male aged two (Case 8,994), a female aged 50 (Case 8,995), a male aged 43 (Case 8,996), a female aged 56 (Case 8,997), a male aged 27 (Case 8,998) and a male aged 50 (Case 8,999).
Apart from a 60-year-old female close contact (Case 8,983) who was recorded as testing positive yesterday, three other close contacts of the first generation’s Case 8976 (Male,56 years old) were today recorded as testing positive for Covid-19, namely a female aged 31 (Case 8,989), a male aged 10 (Case 8,990), and a male aged two (Case 8,991).
No new deaths
There are now two Covid-19 patients in Malaysia in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), with one requiring respiratory support.
Today, 17 persons were declared as recovered from Covid-19, which means that a cumulative total of 8,664 or 96.3 per cent of Covid-19 patients in Malaysia have recovered so far.
As of today, there have been no new deaths recorded as a result of Covid-19, which means that the death toll is still at 125 cases or 1.39 per cent, Dr Noor Hisham said.
