Huge Spikes In Daily New Cases Brings Malaysia's Active COVID-19 Numbers Closer To 2,000

There were 293 new cases reported in the last 24 hours, with 292 of them being local transmissions.

Since Thursday 1 October, Malaysia has recorded back-to-back three-digit spikes in daily new COVID-19 cases. On Thursday, the count was 260, then 287 on Friday with Saturday being the highest so far at 317. 

While this has brought the cumulative total to 12,381 as of Sunday, 4 October, the huge spikes in daily new cases over the past couple of weeks has brought Malaysia's active count to an alarming number.

There are now 1,961 patients who are currently infected with the virus.

For context, the numbers of active cases had fallen under 100 back in July.

On 5 September, there were just 150 active COVID-19 cases in the country.

Since then, the number has increased with such an alarming pace that in less than a month, Malaysia is back to mid-April when the active cases count was around 2,000, according to data analysed by SAYS.

According to Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, this was due to recent measures activated by the ministry, including rapid active case detection in Sabah and Kedah, the two worst-hit states.

"Normally, we will witness an increase in cases for at least two days or up to a week, due to the measures being implemented to break the chain of virus transmission and flatten the curve," he said yesterday.