PETALING JAYA: Malaysia reported a total of seven new deaths related to Covid-19 today, bringing the death total to 34. This is the single biggest increase in a day so far.
The latest casualties involve five men and two women, aged between 27 and 91, with six of them having a history of chronic diseases.
“Of the 34 casualties recorded to date, some 55.6% involve those aged 60 and above.
“About 67.6% have chronic illnesses like diabetes, hypertension, kidney and heart disease,” health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said at a press conference today.
A total of 150 new cases were also reported, pushing the total number of patients so far to 2,470.
Noor Hisham said 73 patients are currently being treated in the intensive care unit (ICU), with 52 cases needing respiratory assistance.
He said 68 patients have recovered, bringing the total number discharged so far to 388.
Noor Hisham said the ministry was increasing its testing capabilities with the help of the private sector and other ministries, namely the higher education, and science, technology and innovation ministries.
The two ministries have prepared 10 diagnostic labs at higher education institutions and university hospitals.
These will enable an additional 1,414 tests a day, or 42,420 a month.
He also said the ministry was appealing to more individuals to volunteer to join the Covid-19 health and medical assistance team.
So far, 157 volunteers from the medical field have joined the team, with another 1,008 set to join.
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