SIX out of nine new Covid-19 cases reported today involved local transmissions, Health Director-General Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said.

Of the six, four are Malaysians in Sarawak.

The new cases bring the national toll of infections to 8,840.

The four local transmissions in Sarawak, there were one each in the Stutong cluster, Sentosa cluster and Kuching engineering cluster, while one is still under investigation.

This individual is asymptomatic and is being treated at Sarawak General Hospital, Dr Noor Hisham said.

The two other local transmissions involved foreigners. One is a prison inmate in Sabah whose infection was detected in a screening prior to his scheduled release. The other is a detainee in Kelantan who was screened before his transfer to an Immigration detention centre.

The three imported cases involved people returning from India, Singapore and the Philippines.

Eight people have recovered and have been discharged from hospital as of noon today.

This brings the total number of recoveries to 8,574

Active cases, on the other hand, stood at 143, of which five are in intensive care, with two of them intubated.

No fatalities were reported, keeping the death toll at 123. – July 23, 2020.