Malaysia reports 1,295 new COVID-19 cases, 7 new deaths
Dec 16, 2020
Kuala Lumpur [Malaysia], December 16 (ANI/Xinhua): Malaysia reported 1,295 new COVID-19 infections, the health ministry said on Wednesday, bringing the national total to 87,913.
Health Ministry Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a press briefing that 10 of the new cases were imported and 1,285 were local transmissions.
More than half of the new cases were reported in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur and the adjacent Selangor state, the majority of which resulted from mass testing in construction sites or factories.
Seven new deaths were reported across the country, bringing the death toll at 429.
Another 1,052 patients were released after recovery, bringing the total cured and discharged to 72,733, or 82.7 per cent of all cases.
Of the remaining 14,751 active cases, 113 are being held in intensive care units and 53 of those are in need of assisted breathing.
Separately, Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said the country's King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah had consented to the declaration of localized emergencies to postpone two by-elections following the death of a member of parliament and a state assemblyman.
This is in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 as had happened following the state-level elections in the northern Borneo state of Sabah, which saw a spike in cases, Muhyiddin said in a statement. (ANI/Xinhua)
