COVID-19 | The Health Ministry reported a total of 19 new Covid-19 fatalities yesterday (Dec 19), bringing the cumulative death toll to 31,092.

Malaysia has the highest number of deaths per capita in the Asean and East Asian regions with 943 deaths per 1 million population. 

From the newly reported deaths yesterday, 21.1 percent or four died before they could receive treatment at a hospital.

Malaysia has the highest number of deaths per capita in the Asean and East Asian regions with 943 deaths per 1 million population, and fourth-worst in Asia. 

Johor recorded the highest number of new deaths at four, making up 21.1 percent of the newly reported fatalities.

The remaining deaths were in Sabah (3), Terengganu (3), Kedah (2), Pahang (2), Perak (2), Selangor (2) and Kelantan (1).

No new deaths were reported in Malacca, Negeri Sembilan, Perlis, Penang, Sarawak, Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya.

All of the 19 deaths happened in the last seven days.

An average of 39 Covid-19 deaths was reported daily in the last 30 days compared to the seven-day average of 30, indicating a downtrend.

To date, 778 such deaths have been reported this month.

Some 1,612 Covid-19 deaths were reported in November, 2,704 in October, 9,678 in September and 7,642 in August.

As of yesterday, there were 53,482 active Covid-19 cases. This is a reduction of 9.1 percent from the 58,852 active infections a week ago.

Compared to 30 days ago, the number of active cases has fallen by 22.1 percent from 68,639.

Cluster-linked infections

The Health Ministry's post-midnight update also provided further insights into the new Covid-19 infections yesterday.

From the 3,108 new cases yesterday, a total of 88 of them could be traced to ongoing Covid-19 clusters.

From the cluster-linked cases, 48 (54.5 percent) were from workplaces while 22 (25.0 percent) were from education institutions.

The remaining cases were traced to clusters related to community transmissions (18-20.5 percent).

The Health Ministry uploads the latest details of the Covid-19 pandemic after midnight on Github as part of its open data initiative.