Selangor Journal
Workers wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) carry the body of a victim of the Covid-19 at a Muslim cemetery, in Batu Caves, on January 27, 2021. — Picture by REUTERS

Malaysia hits record high of 138 Covid-19 fatalities today

KUALA LUMPUR, July 17 — Malaysia recorded the highest new Covid-19 death toll today with 138 fatalities bringing the cumulative Covid-19 deaths to 6,866 since the pandemic hit the country.

Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah in a statement today said of the total number of fatalities, 128 were citizens and 10 foreigners.

“Of that number, 46 deaths were reported in Selangor; Negeri Sembilan (20); 16 each in Kuala Lumpur and Johor; Pahang (12); Melaka (11); Kedah (seven); Perak (four); Penang (three); Terengganu (two) and one in Sabah,” he said.

Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham said a total of 6,629 recoveries were recorded, bringing the total tally of recovered cases to 779,171 so far.

He said of the 12,528 daily cases (Covid-19 positive) reported today, 12,509 were local transmissions while 19 were imported cases.

“There are currently 119,814 active cases while the total number of Covid-19 patients being treated in the intensive care units is 908 with 425 of them on respiratory assistance,” he said.

Dr Noor Hisham said of the total daily cases reported today, 6,840 cases were in Category One (asymptomatic) of the five-category Covid-19 disease while 5,468 cases were in Category Two (mildly symptomatic); 112 cases (Category Three – pneumonia); 44 cases (Category Four – pneumonia and requiring oxygen); and 64 cases (Category Five – critical and requiring assisted ventilation).

On new clusters, he said a total of 28 clusters were detected of which involving workplace (19), the community (six), high-risk groups (two) and one education cluster.

He added Malaysia’s Covid-19 infectivity rate (R-naught or Rt) yesterday was 1.19, with Putrajaya recording the highest Rt value at 1.31.

“Terengganu recorded 1.25; Negeri Sembilan (1.21); Kedah (1.20); Selangor (1.19); Melaka (1.18); Kuala Lumpur (1.17); Penang (1.14); Kelantan (1.11); 1.10 each for Pahang and Perak; Sabah (1.09) and Johor (1.08) while Sarawak (0.92), Labuan (0.76) and zero for Perlis,” he said.

Meanwhile, the number of Covid-19 samples for RT-PCR and RTK-Ag tested for the past 14 days showed an upward trend, he said, adding that for yesterday alone 132,935 tests were conducted covering 65,171 (RT-PCR) and 67,764 (RTK-Ag).

He said Selangor conducted the highest number of tests at 46,681 tests, followed by Kuala Lumpur (16,500) and Johor (10,611).

— Bernama

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