CORONAVIRUS | The number of recoveries from Covid-19 has surpassed new infections for a third straight day, with 222 new recoveries compared to 118 new infections.

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said in total recoveries are at 1,830, or 43 percent. Total cases are at 4,346.

Muhyiddin was confident that if recoveries continue to exceed new infections within the next two weeks, then the spread of the virus can be contained.

However, to achieve that goal, the government has moved to extend the movement control order for another two weeks until April 28.

Three deaths

According to the Health Ministry, there were three deaths yesterday - all Malaysians - attributed to Covid-19 infections. Details are as follows:

Patient 694 (68th death)

Male, 62, who was in contact with Patient 159 from the Sri Petaling cluster. He has a history of diabetes. He was treated in Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Sabah on March 17 and passed away at 8.21am this morning.

Patient 4,229 (69th death)

Male, 77, not attributed to any cluster. He has a history of diabetes. He was treated at the Kuala Lumpur General Hospital on March 27 and passed away at 4am this morning.

Patient 4,230 (70th death)

Female, 88, who was in contact with Patient 1,684. She has several other illnesses. She was treated at the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre on March 20 and passed away at 2.38am this morning.

Currently, the total number of patients in intensive care (ICU) stood at 69 with 40 needing a ventilating machine. 

Virus found on surface of corpse

Meanwhile, Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said funeral rites can only be performed with corpses placed in a body bag.

He said this recommendation was reinforced after an autopsy on a Covid-19 victim found that the Covid-19 virus was detected on the surface of the corpse.

"The autopsy found the Covid-19 virus on the surface of the corpse through Real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction (rt-PCR) analysis performed by the Institute of Medical Research," he said.

He reiterated that the ministry's recommendation had been accepted by the Special Muzakarah Committee and the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) on March 16.

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