COVID-19 | Malaysia has reported 147 new cases of Covid-19 in 24 hours up to noon today, as well as the highest number of deaths reported in a single day since April.

Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said two of the deaths were recorded at Tawau Hospital in Sabah, while another was at Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital, Kedah.

The 131st death involved a 48-year-old Indonesian female (Case 10495) who has a history of diabetes and high blood pressure. She began experiencing vomiting, cough, fever, and weakness on Sept 14.

She was brought to Tawau Hospital’s emergency department on Sept 18 in a semi-conscious state and was transferred to an intensive care unit on Sept 19 as her condition worsened.

She died on the same day at 10.20pm but had only tested positive three days later on Sept 22.

The 132nd death, meanwhile, involved a 54-year-old Malaysian male (Case 10493) who sought treatment at Semporna Hospital’s emergency department for fever, cough and breathing difficulties on Sept 18.

A Covid-19 test was conducted, and he was referred to Tawau Hospital on Sept 20 to be admitted to the ICU due to his worsening condition.

He was declared dead at 6.55pm yesterday. On the same day, his Covid-19 test returned a positive result.

In Kedah, the 133rd death involved a 72-year-old Malaysian man (Case 9224) with a history of stroke.

The deceased is part of the Tawar cluster and is a close contact to Case 9124 who had died on Aug 30. This is the second death involving the cluster, which is linked to a funeral held on July 31 and Aug 1.

Noor Hisham said Case 9224 did not show symptoms but was tested positive for Covid-19 on Aug 19 and was admitted to the Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital, where his condition deteriorated and was admitted to the ICU.

He was declared dead at 3.40am today.

“The Health Ministry conveys its condolences to their families,” Noor Hisham said.

The three deaths raised Malaysia’s Covid-19 death toll to 133. The total number of confirmed infections reached 10,505. Of these, 770 cases are still active.

Eight of the patients are being treated in ICUs, and two of them also require ventilator support.

Meanwhile, 39 people have recovered from the disease and have been discharged.

As for the new cases, Noor Hisham said 143 cases were from local transmissions while another four were imported cases.

134 new cases in Sabah

Sabah again recorded the largest growth in the number of cases, accounting for 134 of the local cases.

Of these, 105 were from the Benteng LD cluster, which now surpassed the now-inactive Bukit Jalil IDD cluster to become the nation’s second-largest Covid-19 cluster ever with 729 cases so far. The Bukit Jalil IDD cluster had 653 cases by the time monitoring ended.

Testing is still ongoing, with 10,389 tests conducted so far and 3,061 still pending.

Noor Hisham said a new cluster - the Udin cluster - has also been discovered in Tawau, Sabah. This is the eighth cluster reported in Sabah since the Benteng LD cluster was reported on Sept 1 and a surge of new cases have been detected in the state.

He said the index case (Case 9894) is a 72-year-old Malaysian female who tested positive during a screening of senior citizens at the Merotai Health Clinic on Sept 12.

“Following that, contact tracing was conducted and two more tested positive on Sept 22.

“Both positive cases involve Philippine nationals. They do not display symptoms and have been admitted to Tawau Hospital to receive treatment,” he said.

He said 128 people had been tested in this cluster so far, of which 54 are still pending results.

Other cases reported in Sabah are:

- Eight cases in the Laut cluster;

- Eight cases in the Bangau-Bangau cluster;

- Five cases detected during the screening of patients with severe acute respiratory infection;

- Three cases detected during screening of healthcare workers at Semporna Hospital;

- Two cases in the Pulau cluster;

- One case detected during screening of detainees at the Semporna district police headquarters.

Outside of Sabah, five cases have been reported in Kedah, four of which are part of the Sungai cluster, and another was detected during community screening.

In Selangor, two cases were reported – one detected while undergoing testing before reporting to work, another through contact tracing of Case 10,286. Both had a history of travelling to Semporna.

One case was reported in Kuala Lumpur after undergoing screening upon returning from a “risk area”, namely Sabah.

One case was reported in Kelantan during screening at an international entryway upon returning from Sabah. This is Kelantan’s first case in nearly two months after an imported case was reported on July 30.

As for the imported cases, Noor Hisham said three had originated from India, and one from Indonesia.