Malaysia’s cumulative Covid-19 cases surpassed the 50,000 mark after 660 new infections were reported on Wednesday (Nov 18), after five consecutive days of four-digit cases.
In a press conference, Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the 660 cases bring the total number of infections in the country to 50,390.
Active cases in the country have gone up to 12,814.
Dr Noor Hisham said from the cases today, Sabah accounted for more than half, with 387 new cases. Of which 262 were from existing clusters.
Klang Valley, on the other hand, reported 173 cases, which was a decline of 66.6% from yesterday’s 518 cases.
Other states that reported new cases were Selangor (139), Negeri Sembilan (31), Perak (16), Penang (16), Labuan (13), Kedah (11), Putrajaya (1) and Malacca (4).
Sarawak, Johor and Kelantan each reported three cases.
Dr Noor Hisham said 171 of today’s cases were attributed to prison and detention-centre clusters. Four cases were imported from outside Malaysia, with two coming from Turkey, one from India and the other from Saudi Arabia.
He revealed that there were 630 recoveries, bringing the total number of those discharged to 37,254.
Currently, 103 people are being treated at intensive care units, with 41 of them requiring ventilator support.
The country also reported four new Covid-19 fatalities, bringing the death toll to 322.
Two were in Sabah and two in Perak, involving three Malaysian citizens and a non-citizen.
Health authorities discovered eight new clusters of infection, bringing the number of active clusters to 167, while declaring the end of another three.