FOUR people have died from Covid-19 in the 24 hours up to 12pm today, bringing the number of casualties from the coronavirus to 61, said director-general of health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

According to Noor Hisham, three of the cases were senior citizens with a history of chronic disease such as diabetes.

He said there were 179 new cases reported today, bringing the total number of positive cases to 3,662.

Of the 179 new cases, 46 are linked to the Sri Petaling tabligh cluster.

He said 99 patients were in intensive care units with 48 of those on respirators.

Ninety people have recovered and been discharged from hospitals in the past day, with 1,005 now having made a full recovery from the virus.

Of the four latest deaths, the first involved a 72-year-old man who had a history of diabetes, and high blood pressure. He was a close contact of patient 1,031 who has died.

The man was receiving treatment at Sarawak General Hospital and was pronounced dead at 1.37pm yesterday.

Noor Hisham said this case is also linked to a cluster stemmed from patient 1,580 who had travel history to Italy.

From this cluster, 37 people have been infected and five fatalities reported.

The second death was that of a 68-year-old man with a history of diabetes and was receiving treatment at Kuala Lumpur Hospital.

A 53-year-old man receiving treatment at Sarawak General Hospital and who died at 12.39am this morning was the third case.

The fourth case was a 66-year-old man with history of chronic illness and was receiving treatment at Keningau Hospital in Sabah. – April 5, 2020.