THE number of new Covid-19 infections jumped to 691 today, with four deaths also recorded.

Of the new cases, 688 are local transmissions, with the bulk at 397 coming from Kedah, and 219 from Sabah, said director-general of health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

In Kedah, 394, or 57% of the total cases today, came from the Tembok prison cluster.

Noor Hisham said the Tembok cluster is within an enhanced movement-control order (EMCO) area in Kedah while the prison itself is also under lockdown to ensure that cases are segregated from the outside community.

Other states also saw a higher increase of new cases, with Selangor reporting (38), followed by Perak (8), Negri Sembilan (7), Kuala Lumpur (4), Sarawak (3), Penang (3), Putrajaya (1), Terengganu (1) and Labuan (1).

Today’s new cases put the country’s tally of cumulative cases at 13,504.

Active cases are now 2,936. Of these, 31 patients are in intensive care, with 8 requiring intubation.

Of the four deaths, three were in Sabah and one was in Penang, putting the country’s death toll from the coronavirus at 141.

One of the deaths include a 1-year-old Malaysian girl, the country’s youngest Covid-19 victim. The three other deaths were of two patients aged 60, and an 85-year-old, all of them male.

The three imported cases among today’s new infections involved people returning from India, Egypt and the Philippines.

Noor Hisham said two days ago that a higher number of cases daily should be expected over the coming week due to targeted and widespread screenings in the four red zones in Sabah. – October 6, 2020.