Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah
KUCHING: The country recorded one Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) death today, bringing the death toll to 62, said Ministry of Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
He said the latest fatality involved a 67-year-old man who had underlying health conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure.
“The victim had close contact with several positive Covid-19 persons from the Sri Petaling tabligh gathering.
“He was treated at Sultanah Nur Zahirah Hospital in Terengganu on March 29 and he passed away on April 5 at 10.22am,” he said at the daily Covid-19 update press conference which was broadcasted live on the Ministry of Health’s Facebook page.
Dr Noor also brought with him some good news where he pointed out that the total of positive cases reported in the country today has decreased from 179 yesterday to 131.
“This brings the total number of Covid-19 positive cases in the country to 3,793.”
He also said that 236 Covid-19 patients have recovered and were discharged today.
“This is the highest daily discharge we have recorded thus far, which brings the total number of recovered Covid-19 patients who have been discharged to 1,241.”
He added that to date, 102 positive Covid-19 patients are still being treated at intensive care units at hospitals out of which 54 required ventilator support.
Dr Noor also informed that investigation from his ministry had found that two clusters were related to large gatherings.
“The first was a church conference which was held for three days in Kuching while the other involved a wedding held at Bandar Baru Bangi in Selangor.”
He said at present, 83 had tested positive for Covid-19 from the church cluster and two deaths were also recorded namely Case #358 and #2,471.
“Five critical cases from the church cluster are being treated at the intensive care unit and 50 are being treated at the hospital.
“Another 25 are being monitored at quarantine centres while one has been discharged from the hospital after recovering from the disease,” he said.
For the cluster in Bandar Baru Bangi, he said 88 have tested positive including one being treated at the intensive care unit.
No death has been reported from this cluster, he added.
Both clusters, he said, were now in the fifth generation.