New COVID-19 cases surge to 2,341 - Health D-G

KUALA LUMPUR, April 20  -- A total of 2,341 new cases of COVID-19 were recorded in the last 24 hours, up from 2,078 cases yesterday bringing the cumulative total of cases so far to 379,473.

Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah on his official Twitter account posted that Sarawak continued to record the highest new COVID-19 cases with 600 cases, followed by Selangor (539), Kelantan (429), Kuala Lumpur (344), and Johor (102).

Meanwhile, Penang recorded 92 cases, Sabah (82), Kedah (44), Perak (34), Melaka (19), 17 cases were reported in Negeri Sembilan and Pahang respectively, while Putrajaya and Perlis each recorded three cases and Labuan one case. 

Meanwhile, in an official statement on the development of COVID-19 today, Dr Noor Hisham said of the total new cases reported, seven were imported cases while 2,334 cases involved domestic transmissions.

"The imported cases involved two citizens and five non-citizens, while local (transmission) cases involved 2,209 citizens and 125 non-citizens," he said, adding that there were 1,592 recovery cases while 249 patients needed treatment in the intensive care unit (ICU) with 95 of them needing respiratory assistance.

He said a total of three deaths were reported involving two locals and one non-citizen leading to a cumulative total of 1,389 deaths while active cases are now 21,268.

On the new clusters, he said seven clusters were detected today with four involving the community, two education clusters including one cluster of schools or educational institutions of the Ministry of Education and one involving workplace transmission.

The new community clusters are Kampung Tengah Betong (Sarawak), Rian River (Sarawak), Jalan Meranti (Selangor), Taman Dato Senu (Kuala Lumpur), and the education cluster are Jalan Pasir Mas-Pohon Tanjung (Kelantan) and Jalan Padang Lallang (Penang) while the workplace cluster is Hala Kampung Jawa (Penang).

"The latest development brings the total number of clusters now to 1,541 with 340 active clusters, and a total of seven clusters were declared expired today, bringing the total number of expired clusters to 1,201," he also said.

Dr Noor Hisham added that the clusters declared ended were Jalan Industri Sofa cluster, Andromeda cluster, Nanga Bulo cluster, Jalan Salak construction site cluster, Sungai Gadut Industrial cluster, Jalan Changkat Jong cluster and Jalan Awang cluster.

-- BERNAMA