MALAYSIA today reported 77 Covid-19 deaths, a drop from yesterday’s record breaking 135 fatalities. The new figures bring the death toll to 5,980, just shy of the 6,000-mark.

The number of patients being treated in the intensive care unit (ICU) remains high at 959, with 456 patients requiring respiratory support.

The current number of patients in ICU is a record high, coming in the wake of public hospitals running out of beds in normal and ICU wards.

Earlier, director-general of health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said a record-breaking 9,180 new Covid-19 cases were reported in the past 24 hours, with a bulk of the cases coming from Selangor and Kuala Lumpur.

The new cases today also outnumbered the 5,713 recoveries reported.

The national caseload stands at 817,838, of which 80,665 are active cases.

Noor Hisham said 82% of the cases reported today were from individual tests, which were not linked to any clusters.

A large number of cases involved Category 1 and 2 patients who have been placed in Covid-19 assessment centres all over Selangor and some have been asked to isolate at home.

Of the 77 deaths reported today, 28 were from Selangor, 17 from Kuala Lumpur, nine from Malacca, five each from Johor and Negri Sembilan, four from Pahang, three from Sarawak, two each from Perak and Terengganu, and one each from Kedah and Labuan.

There were also seven dead-on-arrival cases today.

The oldest to succumb to the virus was a 87-year-old woman who died at University Malaya Medical Centre. She had a history of diabetes, high blood pressure, dyslipidemia and stroke.

The youngest was a 33-year-old woman who died at Sungai Buloh Hospital. She had asthma. – July 9, 2021.