by BERNAMA  / pic by BERNAMA

Malaysia’s efforts in the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic continue to yield encouraging results when 36 new positive cases were reported today, the lowest number recorded since March 12. 

Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said there were no fatalities reported overnight, retaining the death toll at 89. 

“The number of recoveries today, 98 cases, also exceeded the number of new cases, which brings the cumulative total of those fully recovered and discharged to 3,295 cases or 60.74 percent of the case tally,” he said at the daily media briefing on COVID-19 at the Health Ministry here today.

Dr Noor Hisham said the total number of COVID-19 positive cases in Malaysia now stands at 5,425, while the number of active COVID-19 cases with infectivity is 2,041.

To date, 45 of the cases are being treated at the Intensive Care Unit with 28 of them requiring ventilators.

On the decline of new cases the past three days, Dr Noor Hisham said this was due to proactive and aggressive action taken in case tracing, especially in the last two weeks.

Dr Noor Hisham, however, did not rule out the possibility of new cases rising again. 

“The numbers could rise again in the next two weeks on account that case tracing is still being carried out, especially involving Malaysians who had just returned from abroad, and also those from the areas placed under the Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO),” he said. 

Since the Movement Control Order (MCO) came into force on March 18, the daily graph reading for new cases had been volatile with the numbers not lower than triple digits, with 235 cases, reported on March 26, the highest daily figure. 

Today, which is the sixth week of the MCO, the country recorded a double-digit figure for a third day running, with 84 cases reported yesterday and 54 on Saturday.