Covid-19 cases in the country remained above the 3,000 mark as Malaysia entered the sixth day of the second movement control order.
In a statement, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the country recorded 3,306 new Covid-19 cases on Monday (Jan 18).
This takes the tally up to 161,740.
Four people also died due to the coronavirus, raising Malaysia’s Covid-19 death toll to 605.
The country also discharged 2,293 Covid-19 patients, which means 122,344 people have recovered.
The number of people with active Covid-19 infections in Malaysia has gone up to 38,791.
Currently, 226 patients are in intensive care, with 94 requiring ventilator support.
A total of 3,339 Covid-19 cases were recorded on Sunday (Jan 17) with 15 of them being imported cases, says the Health Ministry.
There were also seven deaths recorded, bringing the total number of deaths to 601.
The ministry said since the beginning of the pandemic to date, there were a total of 158,434 positive cases in the country.
The Health Ministry also said some 2,676 Covid-19 patients were also discharged, bringing the total number of recovered cases to 120,051.
Currently, there are 240 patients in the intensive care unit, with 93 of them requiring ventilator support.
The Melaka business community welcomes the clearer government guidelines for the current movement control order (MCO) compared to first enforced in March last year.
Malacca Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Siang Teck Siong said it was crucial for the local business community to be aware of the latest developments in relation to MCO.
"This is to avoid any confusion over what constitutes essential services and other less-important sectors. It's a tough environment for both the government and business community.
The Health Ministry reported 12 new clusters have been detected in Selangor, Johor, Sabah, Federal territory of Kuala Lumpur, Kelantan, Perak, Malacca and Putrajaya.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said in today’s live press conference that the clusters were known as the Jalan Telok Gong and Lingkaran Lintang cluster (Selangor), the Persiaran Selatan, Kampung Perani and Jalan Kluang cluster (Johor), the Ladang Baturong and Ladang Matamba cluster (Sabah), the Tapak Bina Damai cluster (Kuala Lumpur), the Pokok Hidayah cluster (Kelantan), the Kota Road cluster (Perak); the Tembok Kemus cluster (Malacca) and the Restoran Putra cluster (Putrajaya).
Sarawak will continue to test all close contacts of Covid-19 cases, including those who do not exhibit any symptoms, says Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah.
The Deputy Chief Minister said the state disaster management committee would continue with its practice of aggressive contact tracing and testing although the Health Ministry has a new directive to only test those showing symptoms.
"We have discussed this with the state Health Department. When we trace the contacts, we will test them, whether they have symptoms or not," he said at the committee's briefing here on Friday (Jan 15).
The Sarawak government has reduced the number of flights into the state starting tomorrow, partly due to a spike in Covid-19 cases, said state Transport Minister Datuk Lee Kim Shin.
He said other reasons for this move are the limited number of hotel rooms available for quarantine purposes and the imposition of the movement control order (MCO) in Sibu and the conditional CMO (CMCO) in Kuching and Miri.
Lee said this decision was made at the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) meeting yesterday.
Malaysia reported 3,211 more Covid-19 infections today or just slightly under yesterday’s record high.
According to the Health Ministry, total cumulative cases in the country were now 151,066 including 35,253 that were active and infectious.
Eight more people have also died from Covid-19, pushing the country’s death toll to 586.
Selangor, Johor and Sabah were the states with the most new cases reported.
Police arrested 495 people on Thursday (Jan 14) for violating various standard operating procedures under the movement control order, says Senior Minister (Security) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
Among the offences allegedly committed were failure to wear masks at crowded public places, not observing physical social distancing and failure to register details of customers.
On Jan 14, the task force monitoring SOP compliance carried out 45,172 checks.
The Movement Control Order will be enforced in Kelantan from tomorrow until Jan 26.
Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob at a press conference said MCO would also be imposed on three districts in Sarawak, namely, Sibu, Selangau and Kanowit, all which come under the Sibu division from tomorrow until Jan 29.
Registration for the Covid-19 vaccination for Malaysians will be opened soon, said Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba.
However, he did not say when actually the registration would be opened, but that Malaysians would receive two doses of Covid-19 vaccine for full protection against the virus.
"Those who receive the vaccine will have to keep the card that will be given to them when they are given the first injection.
"This is to ensure that those who have been injected get a second dose according to date set, usually in the range of 21 days," he said when appearing as a guest on a talk show,"Bicara DR" on RTM 1 on Thursday (Jan 14) night.
All seven new Covid-19 clusters detected today came from the Peninsular, with four of them being workplace-linked clusters.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said total number of active clusters currently stands at 276.
"From the total, 78 clusters recorded new cases today. The Beringin cluster contributed the highest number of cases today (177 cases), while the Sungai Putus and Pasai clusters each reported 157 new cases," he said in a statement today.
The Jalan Rantau-Siliau cluster in Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan, logged the highest number of cases over the past 24 hours with 96 cases.
A Covid-19 cluster linked to a supermarket in Selayang, Selangor has seen 84 infections since Jan 13.
The Jalan Selayang cluster is one of the seven new clusters detected by the Health Ministry on Thursday (Jan 14).
In a statement, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the supermarket involved is located at Jalan Selayang Baru.
He said 511 workers of the supermarket had undergone a targeted Covid-19 screening exercise, and 84 have tested positive so far.
Private hospitals can be directed to take in Covid-19 patients and their labs be used for tests once the Emergency Ordinances are in effect, says Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob (pic).
He said before the proclamation of Emergency, private medical facilities can reject patients who are positive and the Health Ministry has no power to order them otherwise.
“However, with the Emergency Ordinance that is in place after the proclamation of Emergency, the ministry has the power to direct private hospitals to take in Covid-19 patients and action can be taken against them if they refuse, ” he said on Thursday (Jan 14).
The Sarawak government has decided to enforce the Movement Control Order (MCO) for the Sibu Division for 14 days from this Saturday (Jan 16) until Jan 29.
The State Disaster Management Committee (JPBN) in a statement here today said the decision was taken due to the spike in Covid-19 cases in the division the last several days.
According to the statement, the MCO covers the Sibu, Kanowit and Selangau districts.
“The standard operating procedures (SOPs) related to this MCO will be made known to the public tomorrow. The Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) for the Sarikei Division is being maintained,” the statement said.
As the increasing number of Covid-19 infections continues to overwhelm the country, not all individuals identified as close contacts may undergo tests.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham said the ministry will prioritise swab tests for individuals with symptoms first.
“Those who are close contacts to positive cases must undergo quarantine and be isolated.
“The priority for Covid-19 swab tests is given to those who are symptomatic.
“This is because the swab tests may not be able to be given to all, especially in districts or states that are burdened with a high number of cases.
The public is reminded to continue exercising self-discipline in carrying out preventive measures against Covid-19 as the country enters the Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO) tomorrow.
Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said business operators and customers need to maintain social distancing and good personal hygiene.
He said the police, as well as the task force teams in districts, would focus on standard operating procedure compliance at business premises and public places.
Johor PKR deputy chief Jimmy Puah Wee Tse today questioned why Covid-19 patients from Johor are sent to the Malaysia Agricultural Expo Park Serdang (MAEPS) in Selangor for quarantine and treatment.
He said it is inconvenient for Covid-19 patients from Johor to be sent to Selangor as it very far.
“I understand that starting yesterday, new (Covid-19) patients from Johor will be sent to MAEPS in Selangor to undergo a quarantine process and seek further treatment.
The enhanced movement control order for two localities in Johor will be extended from Jan 16 to 29 as there is still a high number of active cases, says Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob (pic).
The localities are Kejora Juara workers hostel in Muar and Westlite workers hostel in Senai.
Ismail Sabri said that the National Security Council, in a special meeting, had agreed to extend the enhanced MCO for the Kejora Juara workers' hostel as there are still 1,404 active cases there.
An old folks' home in Ipoh, Perak has been placed under lockdown after 13 people, including seven senior citizens, tested positive for Covid-19.
Others who tested positive at the Anning Old Folks' Home include six staff members.
The matter was confirmed by Anning Old Folks' Home chairman Marcus How Kok Peng.
"As part of the exercise to prevent the spread of the virus at old folks' homes around the state, representatives from the state Health Department came to conduct screening on all of 36 senior citizens and 24 staff at our centre on Sunday (Jan 10).
All parks in Penang, including Botanic Gardens, will be closed as of Friday (Jan 15).
This follows some confusion when the movement control order was re-imposed on Wednesday (Jan 13) and some public recreational parks in the state remained open for people to go jogging alone.
State youth and sports committee chairman Soon Lip Chee said in a statement on Thursday (Jan 14) that the state will take heed of the order from National Security Council and close all public parks in the state.
With 334 positive Covid-19 cases as of Dec 3 in Kulim, Kedah, the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) imposed in the district will be extended another two weeks.
Initially scheduled to end tomorrow, Senior Defense Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said it will be extended until Dec 20.
He said the Health Ministry's risk assessment done on the district found the infectivity rate to still be high.
The Perlis Manpower Department is conducting a special operation beginning today until February 28 to ensure all 2,562 registered foreign workers in the state undergo Covid-19 screening tests.
Its director, Iskandar Jassa, said the move was taken in order to contain the pandemic among the community.
“Today, we visited 11 employers and found only one of them had conducted Covid-19 screening for its workers,” he told reporters here, today.
He urged all employers to do so immediately or face the consequences.
All staff of the Bentong Prison and their family members are to be quarantined until the Covid-19 screening process is done with.
This is after health authorities identified the Tembok Mempaga cluster yesterday, the Pahang disaster management committee said in a statement today, adding that the move was necessary to ensure there are no transmissions within the local community.
Kelantan recorded an all-time-high tally of 150 daily Covid-19 cases today.
State health director Datuk Dr Zaini Hussin said Kota Baru registered the highest number of cases at 50, followed by Gua Musang (27) and Pasir Mas (21).
He said the 150 cases take the cumulative tally of infections in the state to 2,133.
Dr Zaini added that 79 of the 150 cases are from close contacts, 45 from clusters, while the rest were detected via screening tests.
A total of four Terengganu state executive council members and another state assemblyman in the state are now undergoing quarantine at their homes while waiting for the results of their Covid-19 tests, a report has said.
All four state executive council members are also state assemblymen in PAS-ruled Terengganu.
In the report by Harian Metro last night, this was confirmed by one of those undergoing quarantine — Bukit Tunggal state assemblyman Alias Razak who is also the exco chairing the local government, housing, health and environment committee.
Alias said the five of them — including himself — were close contacts to a staff member at the Wisma Darul Iman who had tested positive for Covid-19.
A total of 83 close contacts of two Melaka Police Headquarters Contingent (IPK) personnel, who tested positive for Covid-19 last week, have been identified, said Melaka Police chief Datuk Abdul Majid Mohd Ali.
He said the two women personnel, a sub-inspector and a civil servant aged 30 and 53, are from the logistics division of the IPK.
“The close contacts who have been identified comprised officers, personnel as well as family members and 45 of them have been ordered to undergo home quarantine.
SEREMBAN: Rukun Tetangga activities in Negeri Sembilan recorded a decrease of 64.6 per cent to 606 activities from January to November, compared to 1,713 activities for the same period last year.
Thirteen people were detained by police for defying standard operating procedures (SOPs) of the Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO) at food premises here last night.
Acting Labuan police chief DSP Mohd Ibrahim Mohd Ghani said all of them, aged between 28 and 48 years, were compounded RM1,000 each, under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases (Measures within the local Infected Areas) Regulations 2020.
Seventy-nine per cent of intensive care unit (ICU) beds in Sabah hospitals are occupied by Covid-19 patients.
State Covid-19 spokesperson Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun said despite this, the Health Ministry will do its best to accommodate and provide the best healthcare for the people.
"There are two major hospitals in Kota Kinabalu, one has 36 ICU beds and the other has six beds; Tawau has 32; Sandakan 18; Lahad Datu 13; and Keningau 10.
"There are 115 ICU beds in total and 91 patients are being treated at ICUs to date, with 23 of them needing ventilators," he said in a virtual press conference.
Sarawak Patriots Association (SPA) chairman Datuk John Lau Pang Heng today urged the state Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) not to designate longhouses as quarantine centres for those returning from high-risk areas in Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah.
He said the Pasai Siong cluster should serve as a lesson on why longhouses should not be used as quarantine centres for persons-under-investigation (PUIs) for Covid-19.
Lau said many people that he talked to had agreed that an index case in the Pasai Siong cluster should not have been allowed to be quarantined at longhouse since she had returned from Johor Baru via Kuala Lumpur, as both are states considered high Covid-19 risk areas.
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