PETALING JAYA: The Health Ministry today announced that there are 153 new cases that are found positive with the novel coronavirus (Covid-19), making the total number of positive cases to 1183 as of 12pm today.
Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said based on preliminary investigations, out of the 153 new cases, 90 of them came from the tabligh gathering that took at Sri Petaling mosque from Feb 27 to March 1.
“There are also now 37 cases in the intensive care unit (ICU), with 23 of them requiring ventilators,“ he said in a press conference today.
However, he also said 27 cases have since recovered and have been discharged from the hospital, making the total number of cases that have been discharged and recovered from Covid-19 to 114.
Meanwhile, Noor Hisham said a 50-year-old man from Malacca who had been admitted to the hospital after attending the Seri Petaling mosque tabligh gathering, has died this morning.
He said the man, who is case 238, is a Malaysian who was admitted to the Malacca Hospital on March 12 after experiencing Severe Acute Respiratory Infection symptoms.
“He was given the assistance using the ventilator and was admitted into intensive care unit on the same day. His health deteriorated day by day and he was confirmed dead on March 21, 1.30am,“ he said.
This brings the death toll up, to 4 cases, after a 60-year-old pastor from Sarawak, a 34-year-old man from Johor and a 58-year-old man from Sabah had died due to Covid-19 infections. The 34-year-old and 58-year-old man had also attended the same tabligh gathering.
He also said while the 58-year-old man did not have any health issues, the 50-year-old man from Malacca has a history of diabetes and high blood pressure.
Noor Hisham also said the 19 Health Ministry staff and 5 private facility health workers infected by the Covid-19 virus were not due to their disobedience while handling Covid-19 cases, but it is because they are first or second generation close contact to those who attend the tabligh gathering.
He added that 337 health ministry staff have gone through Covid-19 screenings, at which 251 are found negative, and 86 are pending results from the lab.
