KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia reported a new daily record of 9,180 new COVID-19 cases on Friday (Jul 9) with nearly 960 patients in intensive care as the country remained under its third nationwide lockdown.
Malaysia’s previous new daily case record was on May 29 when it saw 9,020 infections. The country’s previous high of 952 critically ill patients was on Thursday.
Health director-general Noor Hisham Abdullah said that Selangor recorded the highest number of new cases at 4,400, followed by Kuala Lumpur with 1,271 cases. There were also 899 infections in the neighbouring state Negeri Sembilan.
A further 406 cases were identified in Sarawak and 315 in Johor.
A resident receives food from a delivery worker through barbwire at Segambut Dalam, Malaysia on Jul 4, 2021. (Photo: AP/Vincent Thian)
Dr Noor Hisham said 959 patients were in the intensive care unit, with 465 requiring respiratory support. The country’s previous high of 952 critically ill patients was on Thursday.
There were also 77 more fatalities,aged 33 to 87, taking the national death toll to 5,980.
Seven of the victims were classified as “brought in dead”.
Thirty new COVID-19 clusters were also identified, taking the number of active clusters in the country to 865.
Dr Noor Hisham said the increase in new cases in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur was due to targeted COVID-19 screening at emergency movement control order (EMCO) areas and factories.
Many individuals in the Klang Valley area also voluntarily stepped forward for testing, he added.
Malaysia previously reported a record 9,020 coronavirus cases on May 29, prompting stricter safety measures in certain states before a third nationwide lockdown was imposed on Jun 1.
People wait to receive their COVID-19 vaccinations in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, May 31, 2021. (Photo: Reuters/Lim Huey Teng)
Despite the tightened restrictions, cases in the past week have been on the uptrend increasing from the 6,000 range to more than 8,800 cases on Thursday.
Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin previously said that curbs would not be eased until daily cases fell below 4,000.
The surge in infections also comes amid a political tussle, with the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) on Wednesday withdrawing its support for Muhyiddin and calling for his resignation.
As of Friday, Malaysia has reported a total of 817,838 COVID-19 cases of which 80,665 are currently active or infectious.
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