Malaysia records highest daily COVID-19 case count; KL most affected

People wait in line to be tested at a station in Klang, Malaysia on Dec 2, 2020. REUTERS via the Straits Times/Asia News Network

KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia on Saturday (Dec 26) recorded the highest number of new coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic, with 2,335 infections.

Capital city Kuala Lumpur made up the largest share – 31.2 percent – of the new infections, with 728 cases, followed by Selangor with 710 cases and Johor with 412 cases.

The previous record was 2,234 cases on Dec 10.

The Ministry of Health also revealed 11 more new Covid-19 clusters throughout the country, taking the total number of active clusters to 215.

Of these active clusters, 59 contributed to Saturday’s cases.

Only 11 of the total new cases were imported, health director-general Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a statement.

More than 300 of them came from the prisons and immigration depots involving nine clusters.

One of the new clusters was detected at a construction site in Kuala Lumpur on Friday through targeted screening.

Dubbed the Jalan Seng cluster, the site now has the country’s largest outbreak, with 232 positive cases.

There were two fatalities reported yesterday. They involved a 44-year-old woman from Sabah and a 70-year-old man from Melaka, both with a history of health conditions. The total number of confirmed cases now stands at 103,900, with 451 deaths.

Tan Sri Noor Hisham said there are currently 108 Covid-19 patients under intensive care, with 50 requiring ventilator support.

Meanwhile, the director of the Sungai Buloh Hospital in Selangor has threatened his staff with disciplinary action if they are found to be flouting Covid-19 rules, Malaysiakini quoted its sources as saying yesterday.

The warning was said to have been issued after the Health Ministry reported as at Dec 18 that a total of 1,771 hospital staff had tested positive for the disease, the majority of whom were nurses.