New infections remain below the 100-mark at 70 new cases

KUALA LUMPUR (May 11): The number of new Covid-19 cases remained below 100 for eight consecutive days, with the Ministry of Health (MoH) reporting 70 new infections, resulting in 1,504 total active cases as at 12pm today.

There were 70 new cases identified today, of which 31 cases were of foreign workers. Of the 70, 13 were imported cases while 57 were local transmissions.

A total of 88 patients had recovered and were allowed to be discharged, bringing the total number of recoveries to 5,113 cases.

The total number of cases in Malaysia stood at 6,726 cases. There are 20 individuals being treated at intensive care units (ICUs), of which seven require respiratory assistance.

One death was reported, bringing the total number of fatalities to 109, equivalent to 1.62% of the total number of cases.

The deceased was a 63-year-old Malaysian man, with a history of diabetes and liver cancer. He was admitted to the Kuala Lumpur Hospital on May 8, and passed away at 5.15am on May 10.

During the daily briefing today, Director-General of Health Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the ministry does not condone the usage of antibody rapid test kits (RTKs) available at private clinics for the purpose of testing employees returning to work.

“As we emphasised before, the test that is used to detect Covid-19 is a test based on antigens, known as the real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, RT-PCR, or the Antigen RTK,” said Dr Noor Hisham.

He said both tests require the usage of a nasopharyngeal swab by trained personnel, while the Antibody RTK test, which uses a finger-prick method, cannot be used to detect active infections.

“A negative Antibody RTK test does not guarantee that the individual does not carry Covid-19,” he emphasised.

However, the Antibody RTK may be used for studying purposes, he said, such as for studies on the prevalence of Covid-19 among the community, or target groups.

Stay safe. Keep updated on the latest news at www.EdgeProp.my 

Click here for more property stories.