Covid-19 deaths (Jan 6): 18 reported fatalities, total at 31,609

COVID-19 | The Health Ministry reported a total of 18 new Covid-19 fatalities yesterday (Jan 5), bringing the cumulative death toll to 31,609.

This is the lowest number of reported deaths in 19 days, since Dec 17, 2021.

From the newly reported deaths yesterday, 16.7 percent or 3 died before they could receive treatment at a hospital.

Malaysia has the highest number of deaths per capita in the Asean and East Asian regions with 958 deaths per 1 million population, and fourth-worst in Asia after Iran, Lebanon and Jordan – all in the Middle East.

Pahang, Perak and Selangor each recorded the highest number of new deaths at 3, making up 16.7 percent each of the newly reported fatalities.

The remaining deaths were in Kedah (2), Malacca (2), Kuala Lumpur (2), Kelantan (1), Sabah (1) and Terengganu (1).

No new deaths were reported in Johor, Negeri Sembilan, Perlis, Penang, Sarawak, Labuan and Putrajaya.

A total of 18 out of the 18 reported deaths or 100.0 percent happened in the last seven days.

An average of 32 Covid-19 deaths was reported daily in the last 30 days compared to the seven-day average of 26, indicating a downward trend.

As of yesterday, there were 39,739 active Covid-19 cases. This is a reduction of 4.7 percent from the 41,682 active infections a week ago.

Compared to 30 days ago, the number of active cases has fallen by 34.1 percent from 60,331.

Cluster-linked infections

The Health Ministry's post-midnight update also provided further insights into the new Covid-19 infections yesterday.

From the 3,270 new cases yesterday, a total of 61 of them could be traced to ongoing Covid-19 clusters.

From the cluster-linked cases, 26 (42.6 percent) were from high-risk groups such as old folks homes while 23 (37.7 percent) were from workplaces.

The remaining cases were traced to clusters related to imported (6 - 9.8 percent), education institutions (4 - 6.6 percent) and community transmissions (2 - 3.3 percent).