KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 3 — Nineteen new Covid-19 deaths were recorded yesterday, of which four were classified as brought-in-dead (BID) cases.
According to the Ministry of Health (MoH), Selangor recorded the highest number of new deaths with five fatalities, followed by Terengganu (four), Johor (three) and Sabah (two).
Meanwhile, Kedah, Kelantan, Negri Sembilan, Melaka and Kuala Lumpur all recorded one death each.
This brings the total number of deaths due to Covid-19 to 31,532 since the pandemic arrived in Malaysia in February 2020.
Only one of the 19 deaths occurred more than a week ago; the others took place within the last seven days.
Yesterday, the MoH recorded 2,882 new coronavirus cases, marking the first time in days that the number of daily infections had fallen below the 3,000-case mark.
The cumulative number of cases recorded in Malaysia since the pandemic struck now stands at 2,764,354.
While both deaths and daily cases are decreasing, there had been concerns that the Omicron variant of the coronavirus could trigger a rise in numbers again.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said as of yesterday, 64 Omicron-related cases had been detected in Malaysia and that the MoH is studying the possibility of a second booster dose for vaccine recipients following an increased prevalence of the highly infectious variant globally.
