PUTRAJAYA, Sept 8 — The number of new Covid-19 cases rose to three figures today, with 100 cases reported compared with 62 yesterday, bringing the total cumulative tally to 9,559 cases, said Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
He said of the 100 new cases, 85 were local transmissions involving 55 Malaysians and 30 foreigners while 15 were imported cases.
Elaborating on the 85 local transmissions, he said that 62 of the cases were from the Benteng LD cluster in Sabah while the remaining 23 cases were from the Sungai Cluster, with 22 reported in Kedah and one in Perlis.
The 15 imported cases reported today involved two Malaysians and 13 non-Malaysians returning from India, Indonesia, Pakistan and the Philippines.
On active cases, Dr Noor Hisham said that seven patients were being treated in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), with four on respiratory assistance. There were 12 cases of recovery and no Covid-19-related deaths today.
Commenting on the Benteng LD Cluster involving the districts of Lahad Datu and Tawau in Sabah, Dr Noor Hisham said a total of 431 individuals were screened in Lahad Datu and 87 tested positive, while 41 people tested positive out of the 1,579 screened in Tawau.
“For the Sungai cluster, 470 people were screened in Kedah and 25 tested positive. In Perlis, four were screened and one tested positive, while none of the five screened in Penang tested positive,” he said during the daily press conference on Covid-19 here today.
As for the Telaga cluster, 4,410 individuals were screened in Kedah and 10 tested positive. In Penang, 46 were screened, but none tested positive so far.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health (MOH), in its official Twitter account, said that the Lahad Datu district in Sabah was now a red zone after the number of cases increased to 87.
Only the districts of Tawau (Sabah) and Kota Setar (Kedah) have recorded 30 cases and above, while Kelantan, Terengganu, Labuan, Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Perak, Negeri Sembilan and Johor remain as green zones.
Dr Noor Hisham said a total of 29,330 travellers had been placed at designated quarantine stations after arriving in Malaysia from July 24 until yesterday, with 237 positive Covid-19 cases detected and most of them were from India (42 cases), the Philippines (27 cases) and Indonesia (26 cases).
“The government has also taken proactive measures by tightening border control for Covid-19 high-risk countries starting yesterday.
“Currently, the Immigration Department has strengthened entry restrictions for visitors from 23 countries, which include long-term pass holders from countries that have recorded cumulative positive Covid-19 cases over 150,000 cases,” he said.
According to Dr Noor Hisham, the move was to tighten and enhance border control and the ministry would continue to assess the risks based on the current situation of Covid-19 worldwide.
He added that the names of countries added to the latest list on entry restrictions would be announced by the government from time to time.
— Bernama
