COVID-19 | The Health Ministry recorded 732 new Covid-19 cases as of noon today with six more deaths reported.

Leading indicators in brief:

Active cases = 7,827 ↑ (16th straight day, a new record set)
Patients in intensive care = 102 ↑ (seven more than previous day)
Intubated patients = 31 ↑ (two more than previous day)
Deaths = 6

Of the six deaths, five were reported in Sabah and one in Labuan.

Sabah has recorded 55 deaths in 14 days.

From the case numbers assigned to all six victims, they were diagnosed as Covid-19 positive very recently.

The five victims in Sabah were numbered sequentially which suggested that they died before they were diagnosed or soon after they were diagnosed.

Details are as follows:

'Patient 22,756', Malaysian female, 71, Semporna Hospital.
'Patient 22,757', Malaysian male, 65, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Kota Kinabalu.
'Patient 22,758', Malaysian female, 65, Duchess of Kent Hospital, Sandakan.
'Patient 22,759', Malaysian female, 71, Semporna Hospital.
'Patient 22,760', foreign male, 27, Duchess of Kent Hospital, Sandakan.
'Patient 22,943', Malaysian male, 46, Labuan Hospital. This patient was warded, diagnosed, and pronounced dead today.

Malaysia's Covid-19 death toll currently stands at 199.

Of the 732 new cases as of noon today, eight were import cases while three involved individuals who recently travelled to Sabah.

The number of new cases attributed to travel to Sabah has been steadily reducing in recent days.

The total number of cases since Sept 20 that involved travel to Sabah currently stood at 454.

Sabah continued to report the highest number of new cases (535) followed by Selangor (114).

A breakdown of the new cases are as follows:

Sabah (535 new cases)

Close contact screening - 254
Other types of screening - 190
Existing clusters - 64
Basung cluster (new) - 19
Inai cluster (new) - 6
Tempayan cluster (new) - 2

Selangor (114 new cases)

Close contact screening - 34
Workplace screening - 15
Other types of screening - 5
Existing clusters - 49
Cahaya cluster (new) - 8
Bah Kota cluster (new) - 2
Long cluster (new) - 1

Kuala Lumpur (20 new cases)

Close contact screening - 6
Existing clusters - 5
Melati cluster (new) - 6
Long cluster (new) - 3

Penang (12 new cases)

Other types of screening - 1
Existing clusters - 11

Negeri Sembilan (9 new cases)

Close contact screening - 4
Existing cluster - 1
Cahaya cluster (new) - 4

Labuan (9 new cases)

Other types of screening - 2
Returnees from Sabah - 2
Bina Labuan cluster (new) - 5

Kedah (7 new cases)

Existing clusters - 7

Perak (7 new cases)

Close contact screening - 1
Other types of screening - 1
Returnee from Sabah - 1
Existing clusters - 4

Putrajaya (6 new cases)

Existing clusters - 6

Malacca (3 new cases)

Other types of screening - 3

Kelantan (1 new case)

Existing cluster - 1

Pahang (1 new case)

Existing cluster - 1

The Health Ministry has identified eight new clusters today, primarily in Peninsular Malaysia.

Most of the clusters involved individuals who were only confirmed Covid-19 cases after they reported symptoms.

The Basung cluster involved the Kudat district in Sabah, with 19 cases identified so far.

The index case was discovered based on targetted screening efforts on those involved in the fish markets.

The Inai cluster also involved the Kudat district in Sabah, with eight cases identified so far. The index case had reported symptoms on Oct 14.

The Tempayan cluster involved the Kota Kinabalu and Penampang districts in Sabah, where 19 cases have been identified. The index case reported symptoms on Oct 1.

The Long cluster involved various districts across Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, where 18 cases have been identified. The index case reported symptoms on Oct 12.

The Cahaya cluster involved the Petaling district in Selangor and the Tampin district in Negeri Sembilan, where 18 cases have been identified.

The index case reported symptoms on Oct 16.

The Bah Kota cluster involved the Sepang district in Selangor and Seremban district in Negeri Sembilan, where 10 cases have been identified. The index case reported symptoms on Oct 14.

The Melati cluster involved the Titiwangsa district in Kuala Lumpur and the Klang district in Selangor, where nine cases have been identified. The index case reported symptoms on Oct 14.

The Bina Labuan cluster involved only Labuan island, where the index case was warded, diagnosed, and died at the Labuan Hospital today.

There are four other confirmed cases in this cluster and 55 individuals are still waiting for their test results.