THE pandemic situation in the country continues showing signs of improvement, as the number of patients who recovered Friday exceeded that of new positive cases.
Ministry of Health director-general Datuk Seri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the number of positive cases to date was 4,346, and as noon Friday 118 new cases had been recorded, while 222 patients had recovered and discharged.
“The cumulative number of cases fully recovered from COVID-19 and discharged was 1,830, which is 42.11 percent of the total number of cases,” Bernama quoted him.
To futher their efforts, Chinese medical officials could be cooperating to conduct further research on the virus.
Dr Noor Hisham said there could be different strains of the virus and research was needed to isolate the virus and study the behaviour.
Quoting WHO chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Dr Noor Hisham said restricting movements allowed a country a chance at dealing with the spread of the virus.
He said Tedros had warned against ending efforts to restrict movements prematurely.
In Taiwan, two new cases and one death was confirmed Friday, bringing to 382 since the pandemic began late last year.
Both newly confirmed patients contracted the disease overseas.
Of the new cases, a woman in her 20s became the 11th confirmed patient on board China Airlines flight CI011 from the United States to Taiwan on March 30, Bernama quoted health officials as saying.
The woman, who was studying in the United States developed symptoms of nasal congestion and an abnormal sense of smell on April 5 while under home quarantine.
Since March 19, all individuals arriving in Taiwan from abroad, regardless of where they are coming from, have been required to remain in quarantine at home for 14 days to avoid potentially spreading the disease.
The other case involved a man in his 60s who visited relatives in Indonesia with his wife from Feb 16 to March 29.
Another Covid-19 patient in his 70s died Thursday, and the man was part of a tour group that visited Egypt from March 3-12.
Ninety-one of Taiwan’s Covid-19 patients have been released from quarantine, while six have died.
In Thailand, 50 new cases were reported taking the total to 2,473 and a death increasing that toll to 33.
Bangkok reported the largest number of new infections, while nine other provinces remained free of the virus.
Singapore reported more than 250 new cases, bringing to 1,910 the toll on the island republic.
In Indonesia, a joint uniformed presence took to streets of Jakarta on Friday to enforce more stringent social distancing as fears heighten of virus infections surge.
Offenders face hefty fines and imprisonment for breaking curfew laws in place.
To date, 280 deaths have been recorded and 3,293 confirmed cases.
