MALAYSIA reported 18,560 new Covid-19 infections yesterday, a rise in daily cases for the third straight day.

The new infections took the cumulative number of cases in the country to 4.2 million.

Meanwhile, Malaysia is closing in on 35,000 deaths linked to the coronavirus with 44 fatalities reported yesterday. 

Of the fatalities, eight were declared dead on arrival (DOA). 

The Health Ministry had clarified that daily reported deaths do not take place in a single day but within the last 72 hours. 

This means that the 44 deaths occurred within the last three days.

The death toll is now at 34,938, of which 7,381 are DOA cases. 

Of the infections reported yesterday, Selangor, the most populous state, logged 10,735 or 58% of the total cases. 

After Selangor was Kuala Lumpur with 1,188 cases, followed by Negri Sembilan with 1,077 cases. 

Other states and territories reporting new cases were Johor (954), Penang (790), Perak (751), Sarawak (639), Kedah (607), Pahang (480), Malacca (338), Terengganu (325), Kelantan (271), Sabah (214), Putrajaya (101), Perlis (48) and Labuan (42). 

As for breakdown of deaths by state, Perak reported the most number of fatalities with 12, followed by Selangor (11) and Johor (6). 

Other states adding to the death count were Sarawak (5), Penang (3), Kelantan, Sabah, and Terengganu (2 each), and Negri Sembilan (1). 

Of the eight DOA cases, three each were reported in Selangor and Perak, while one each was reported in Johor and Kelantan. 

The fatality rate stood at 0.3% and the cumulative fatality rate at 0.8%. – April 1, 2022.