Another healthcare worker dies

Robo-delivery: A robot delivering food in the quarantine facility at the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang. So far, 3,542 patients have recovered from Covid-19 in Malaysia. — Bernama

PUTRAJAYA: Covid-19 has taken the life of another government healthcare worker.

The 32-year-old was among the two latest Covid-19 deaths in the country.

Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the woman, who is the country’s 94th Covid-19 fatality, had a history of high blood pressure.

The woman was a close contact of patient number 3,662, who is among those in the Muar specialist hospital cluster in Johor.

She was admitted to Hospital Enchè Besar Hajjah Khalsom, Johor, on April 6 and was pronounced dead yesterday at 12.36am.

“This is the third death among the ministry’s healthcare workers, ” he said at his daily Covid-19 press briefing here yesterday.

He also announced another death, a 67-year-old Malaysian man who is the country’s 95th fatality.

Dr Noor Hisham said that as of yesterday, there were 325 Health Ministry workers who tested positive for Covid-19.

He added that 185 had fully recovered and had been discharged, 137 still receiving treatment while three had died.

These cases comprised 77 medical officers, 66 nurses, 34 graduate medical assistants, 23 medical experts, 21 medical officer assistants and 104 under other services.

According to Dr Noor Hisham, investigations concluded that all of the ministry’s workers did not catch Covid-19 while handling positive cases at its facilities.

“It is found that 70% of cases were due to personal activities such as attending receptions, going overseas, ” he said.

Dr Noor Hisham urged every frontliner to take preventive steps.

He said these include making sure their hands were clean, avoiding crowds and confined spaces, practising social distancing and using personal protective equipment when handling patients.

“The Health Ministry will continue to monitor developments of Covid-19 and Malaysians will be informed from time to time, ” he added.

Dr Noor Hisham also announced that there were 71 more Covid-19 cases. This takes the country’s total number of confirmed cases to 5,603.

In the same 24-hour span, 103 more patients had also been discharged, which means there are only 1,966 active cases currently treated in health facilities.

So far, 3,542 patients have recovered from Covid-19 in Malaysia.

Malaysia’s Covid-19 recovery rate is now at 63.2% out of the total number of positive cases.

There are 42 patients being treated at intensive care units (ICUs), with 21 of them requiring ventilators.

He also hinted that travel bans would probably remain in place even after the MCO is lifted.

Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said border control measures introduced by the government had efficiently reduced the number of imported Covid-19 cases and should continue.

“If we look at our imported cases, we have successfully managed it with our border control.

“We need to tighten border control especially now, with the increasing number of cases in over 180 countries.

“Lifting the MCO does not mean we will lift border control. In fact, we need to strengthen it further, ” he said.

Malaysia has banned non-Malaysians from entering the country, only allowing citizens to return home. - Star