KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 4): Malaysia logged 1,032 new Covid-19 cases today, 62.6% of them from Sabah, while daily cases at its most populous state of Selangor hit a new high of 231 cases. Selangor's previous highest was 225 cases, recorded on Sunday, Nov 1.
Today's additions, which came with six new infection clusters found, marked the fourth time the country has had more than 1,000 cases in a single day, and raised the total confirmed Covid-19 cases here to 35,425.
Eight more Covid-19 related deaths were reported today, which upped the coronavirus death toll in the country to 271, according to the Ministry of Health (MoH).
Seven of these new deaths were reported in Sabah, said health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, while one was in Perak. The deceased were aged between 56 and 83.
Active cases, meanwhile, rose to 10,339 from 10,135 reported yesterday, as recoveries came in lower than new infections, at 820. To date, the recovery tally stood at 24,815 or 70% of confirmed infections.
Sabah, which contributed 646 cases today, remains the worst-hit state, followed by Selangor, Negeri Sembilan (44), Labuan (28), Kedah (25), Penang (23),Kuala Lumpur (9), Sarawak (9), Perak (6), Putrajaya (4), Terengganu (3), Johor (2), and Kelantan (2).
Three states, namely Pahang, Melaka and Perlis, did not register any Covid-19 cases today.
One of the new infections today involved a person who travelled to Sabah recently, said Noor Hisham. This raised the number of cases involving returnees from Sabah since Sept 20 to 479.
There were also three imported cases, where the patients were infected abroad. All three are foreigners; one travelled from India, one from Singapore and one from the Philippines, he said.
He also noted that 98 of the new cases today involved prison-related clusters and temporary detention centres.
Three of six new clusters found in Sabah
The MoH has identified six new Covid-19 clusters — three in Sabah — with a total of 108 infections among them.
The three new clusters in Sabah are: the Sandakan prison cluster (39 cases), the Dialysis cluster in Sandakan and Lahad Datu (19), and the Sepanggar cluster in Kota Kinabalu (eight). The other three clusters are: the Aero cluster in Petaling, Selangor (11); the Lengkuk cluster that spans Sepang in Selangor, Seremban, Port Dickson, and Rembau in Negeri Sembilan (24); and the Gading cluster that involves Putrajaya and Seremban in Negeri Sembilan (seven).
Noor Hisham said a total of 262 infection clusters have been reported by the ministry so far, of which 119 have ended — including Embun in Selangor and Bah Tanjung in Terengganu today — after no new cases were reported for 28 days.