The latest casualty was a 47-year-old man who was admitted to a private hospital on March 15 before being transferred to Hospital Sungai Buloh the next day. He died on May 5.
However, health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said 83 patients were also discharged, taking total recoveries to 4,567 or 71.55% of all cases.
He said 1,710 patients continue receiving treatment, with 24 in the intensive care unit and eight in need of respiratory assistance.
Noor Hisham said 20 new cases were detected from the cluster in the northern part of the capital as well as the neighbourhoods surrounding the Kuala Lumpur wholesale market in Selayang.
One was from outside the area which had been subjected to the enhanced movement control order (EMCO) on April 20.
Yesterday, however, the EMCO was lifted except in Parcels C, D, E1, E2, E3 and F of Pusat Bandar Utara, which was extended to May 12.
To date, 180 cases have been recorded from this cluster, 80 of which originated from outside the area.
Noor Hisham said the ministry has set in place preventive measures following new infections detected at the market. They include requiring traders and businessmen who wish to enter or operate in the market to undergo screening.
As for the 35 clusters which were not placed under the EMCO, three new cases were detected – two from Chow Kit market and one from Selangor Mansion.
On a separate issue, Noor Hisham said the ministry will cooperate with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in its probe into a company’s RM30 million contract to supply the ministry with testing laboratories for the pandemic.
“The ministry will always cooperate with the MACC if needed,” he said.
Yesterday, The Malaysian Insight, quoting sources, reported that the anti-graft agency had launched an investigation into the company after former MP Wee Choo Keong alleged that the firm that secured the contract was a real estate company.
The firm was also allegedly paid upfront, the report said.
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