Sarawakian pastor among two dead as country records 120 new cases
KUCHING: Malaysia recorded its first two deaths from Covid-19 yesterday in Kuching and in Johor Bahru.
The State Disaster Management Committee in a press statement confirmed that the Sarawak victim was a 60-year-old pastor from Emmanuel Baptist Church here, who passed away at 11am at Sarawak General Hospital (SGH).
“The state Health Department is still in the process of identifying the source of the pastor’s infection,” it said, adding that 193 close contacts of the deceased have been traced and are undergoing home quarantine.
The committee also said Sarawak recorded 11 new positive Covid-19 cases yesterday – six in Kuching, three in Limbang, and one each in Betong and Lawas, bringing the total number of cases to 45 since last Friday.
“They are now being treated at the three designated hospitals, namely SGH, Sibu Hospital and Miri Hospital,” the statement said.
The committee also said the 45 cases in Sarawak had been traced to four clusters, namely Sri Petaling Cluster, Kuching (Church) Cluster, Sarikei Cluster, and one more cluster in Kuching of which the source said has yet to be identified.
It added that the state recorded another 35 Person-Under-Investigation (PUI) for Covid-19, while 204 patients are still awaiting results.
The second fatality, meanwhile, involved a 34-year-old man who had attended the religious gathering at the Sri Petaling Mosque in Kuala Lumpur, according to Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba as reported by Bernama.
“The 178th case is a Malaysian, aged 34, who attended the tabligh religious gathering at Masjid Jamek in Sri Petaling recently. He began showing symptoms on March 5 and received treatment at Permai Hospital in Johor Bahru on March 12 after he tested positive for Covid-19.
“His condition deteriorated and he was then placed in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU),” Dr Adham said at the daily media conference on Covid-19 at the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Putrajaya.
On the Sarawak death, he said the deceased – Case 358 – had a history of chronic ailments who began having symptoms such as fever, cough and breathing difficulties on March 7, and received treatment at SGH after testing positive for the coronavirus.
“His condition worsened and he was then placed in ICU and was confirmed to have died today (Tuesday).”
Commenting on Case 178, Dr Adham said the patient was a ‘pure Covid-19’ case who had no other health complications.
He also disclosed that 120 new Covid-19 cases were registered in the country as of noon yesterday, bringing the total number to 673 cases.
“Based on preliminary investigations, 95 of the 120 new cases are linked to the Sri Petaling Mosque tabligh religious gathering, as with 428 of the total nationwide tally so far.
“To date, 12 Covid-19 cases are being treated in ICUs and require respiratory aid.”
He said seven more positive cases reported earlier have fully recovered and discharged, making it 49 full recoveries so far.
Meanwhile, commenting on the movement control order that will take effect today until March 31, the minister said the drastic action needed to be taken by the government to contain the spread of Covid-19, was by restricting the movement of the public.
“This approach has to be taken to prevent more Malaysians from being infected with Covid-19, which has entered its second wave (in Malaysia).
“However, it will not affect MoH and private healthcare services,” he said, while urging the public to comply with the order as announced by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin on Monday night.
Dr Adham also called on all Malaysians to play their role in helping the government contain the spread of the coronavirus.