Malaysia surpasses 100,000 cumulative Covid-19 cases on Xmas Eve with 1,581 new cases

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 24 — Malaysia has breached 100,000 cumulative Covid-19 cases on Christmas Eve, with a total of 1,581 new cases recorded today.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said Malaysia’s cumulative cases now stands at 100,318 cases.

Today’s figure meant that the number of active cases nationwide is currently at 18,773 while 102 patients have been admitted into intensive care wards, 45 of whom need breathing assistance.

“Selangor continues to lead with 491 cases today (31.1 per cent). From this total 375 cases (76.4 per cent) are from close contact tracing and existing clusters.

“Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur is second with 379 cases (24.0 per cent) while Sabah has 249 (15.7 per cent) cases today,” he said in a statement here.

He also revealed that two people have died of the virus in Sabah, bringing the total number of fatalities to 446 cases.

The first deceased was a 15-year-old Malaysian woman while the second deceased was a 61-year-old Malaysian man with a history of dyslipidemia, stroke and high blood pressure.

All but two cases were caused by local infections.

Dr Noor Hisham also said 1,085 patients recovered today bringing the total number of recoveries to 81,099.

A total of four new Covid-19 infection clusters — Kebun Baru, Sungai Burong, Tapak Bina Jalan Tun and Jalan Pandan — were registered as well, with six existing clusters coming to an end.

The number of active clusters to date stands at 206.

All but one of the new clusters reported today originated from workplaces in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur.

As for Christmas, Dr Noor Hisham also reminded Malaysians to comply with the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) and the continual practice of new norms such as social distancing among their family members.

He also encouraged Malaysians to make use of video conferencing to substitute house visitations so as to protect the elderlies and those vulnerable from the virus.