Covid-19: Sarawak’s latest death linked to Kuching church gathering cluster, says Health DG

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Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah

KUCHING: The 23-year-old Sarawakian woman who died from Covid 19 today is a fifth generation infection of the Kuching church gathering cluster, said Health Director-General Datuk Noor Hisham Abdullah.

He told a press conference in Kuala Lumpur that the woman, who is one of two deaths in Malaysia in the last 24 hours, had a history of thyroid.

“She (Case 2864) had a history of close contact with two positive cases, namely Case 2469 and Case 2470). She was also a fifth generation of the Kuching church gathering cluster, but she was not a participant of that gathering.

“She was treated at the Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) on March 30 and died on April 9 at 9.42am,” said Dr Noor Hisham.

He also said that the woman was now the youngest fatality in the country and that she had sought treatment when the infection was at a late stage.

“Most of the cases, 88 per cent, came in category 1 and 2 but this patient came in category 4 to our hospital so you need oxygenation and ventilation and the patient succumbed to the illness,” he said.

The church gathering held in Kuching from Feb 26 to Feb 28, was identified as one of the four major Covid-19 infection clusters in the country.

There are now three deaths from this cluster, which has 110 confirmed cases.

With the latest deaths today, the fatality from Covid-19 in Malaysia has risen to 67.

On the 66th death, Dr Noor Hisham said it involved a 59 year old man or Case 2798 who had a history of autoimmune and other chronic diseases.

Dr Noor Hisham added the case had attended the Sri Petaling Mosque tabligh gathering earlier this year.

The case was treated at the Melaka Hospital and passed away at 5am on April 9.

“This brings the Covid-19 death toll in Malaysia to 67 cases, which translates to a fatality rate of 1.58% out of the total number of cases,” he said.

On a positive note, Dr Noor Hisham said Malaysia again today recorded more number of recoveries than new positive cases.

He said Malaysia discharged 121 more patients as at noon today.

So far, 1,608 patients have recovered from Covid-19 in Malaysia since the outbreak began.

On new positive cases, he said Malaysia recorded 109 new Covid-19 cases on today, taking the total number of confirmed infections in the country to 4,228.