MALAYSIA today recorded five Covid-19 related deaths, all of which were in Sabah.

This has brought the national death toll from the coronavirus to 146.

Director-general of health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a virtual presser today that there were 375 new Covid-19 infections reported in the past 24 hours, of which 371 were from local transmissions.

The new daily cases have brought the national caseload to 14,368.

Sabah reported two new clusters and accounted for the bulk of the new cases with 271 infections.

Citizens accounted for 342 of the locally transmitted cases while the remaining 29 were foreigners.

Active cases on the other hand stood at 3,703.

Meanwhile, 18 patients were discharged from the hospital after recovering from the coronavirus in the past 24 hours.

With this, the total number of recoveries from the virus now stands at 10,519.

Sixty patients are currently warded at the intensive care unit, where 20 are intubated. 

Three of the five deaths reported today were at the Tawau Hospital, while one case was reported in Sandakan and the other in Semporna.

Four of the five deceased had a history of chronic illnesses, while information was not available for one patient.

Two of them were senior citizens aged 75 and 82, while the other three were in their 50s.

Noor Hisham also said that Sabah reported two new clusters and accounted for the bulk of the new cases with 271 infections.

He said 252 cases were detected in Sabah through various screening activities, while existing clusters such as Benteng Lahad Datu, Laut and Ramai-Ramai reported three, five and six cases respectively.

Tujuh Serangkai and Tanamera – new clusters reported today – registered two and three cases respectively.

Meanwhile, 18 of the new cases reported today had a recent travel history to virus hotspot Sabah.

These infections were reported in Selangor (4), Kuala Lumpur (2), Labuan (2), Sarawak (2), Johor (2), Perak (2), Terengganu (1), Negri Sembilan (2) and Putrajaya (1).

Selangor reported 36 cases, while Kedah reported 16.

Health authorities have also discovered new clusters in Kuala Lumpur, Sarawak and Labuan. – October 8, 2020.