COVID-19: 710 new cases today, with 10 new deaths the highest so far - Health D-G

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 23 -- The total number of new COVID-19 cases reported in Malaysia in the past 24 hours dropped slightly to 710, while 10 deaths were recorded, which is the highest since the pandemic began in the country, said Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

He said the latest development took the cumulative tally for positive cases to 24,514 while the death toll rose to 214.

He also said the total number of active cases with infectivity potential now stood at 8,416.

“Sabah continued to record the highest number of cases, with 528, following the hard work put in to carry out active case detection in the state,” he said in a statement on the development of COVID-19 today.

He said Selangor recorded 62 new cases, followed by Penang (39 cases); Negeri Sembilan (37); Labuan (19); Kuala Lumpur (10); Perak and Johor (four each); Terengganu and Sarawak (two each); and Kedah and Pahang (one each).

According to him, there was one imported case involving a foreigner coming from Nepal.

On the 10 new death cases, Dr Noor Hisham said eight were recorded in Sabah while one each was reported in Kedah and Labuan.

“Deaths number 206, 207, 209, 210, 211, 212 and 213 involved Malaysians while fatalities number 205, 208 and 214 involved foreigners,” he said, adding that there were 467 recoveries today, taking the cumulative number of full recoveries to 15,884 cases. 

He said that of the total, Sabah recorded the highest number of recoveries, with 246 cases, followed by Selangor (105 cases) and Kedah (74).

There are 90 cases currently being treated in the intensive care unit, with 28 requiring ventilator assistance.

He said the Ministry of Health had also detected three new clusters, namely the Samudera Cluster in Sabah, Palma Cluster in Selangor and Jaya Cluster in Selangor/Negeri Sembilan. 

-- BERNAMA