Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba speaks during a press conference in Putrajaya March 17, 2020. — Picture by Choo Choy May

KUALA LUMPUR, March 17 — Malaysia recorded its first Covid-19 fatality today in Sarawak, the Sarawak State Disaster Management Committee secretariat said today.

The victim is a 60-year-old pastor from the Emmanuel Baptist Church in Kuching who passed away at 11am today, at Sarawak General Hospital.

“The State Health Department is still in the process to identify the source of his infection. Meanwhile, 193 close contacts of the deceased have been traced and are undergoing home-quarantine.

“Sarawak today recorded eleven (11) new positive cases. There are six (6) from Kuching, three (3) from Limbang and one (1) each from Betong and Lawas. They are now being treated at the three (3) designated hospitals namely, Sarawak General Hospital, Sibu Hospital and Miri Hospital,” the statement read, adding that another 35 Person-Under-Investigation (PUI) were recorded, with 204 patients still awaiting results.

The secretariat said that currently, 45 Covid-19 cases in Sarawak have been traced to four clusters, namely, Sri Petaling Cluster, Kuching (Church) Cluster, Sarikei Cluster and another cluster in Kuching, the source of which is yet to be identified.

In a press conference just shortly after, the Health Ministry (MOH) said that it has detected 120 more confirmed cases of Covid-19, bringing the total number of positive cases in Malaysia to 673.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba said 95 out of the 120 cases were linked to the tabligh gathering at Kuala Lumpur’s Jamek Sri Petaling Mosque, which ran from February 27 to March 1.

Following the spike in cases, Dr Adham further said the decision made by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to announce the movement control order was therefore justified.

Muhyiddin had said yesterday Malaysia will effectively be hitting pause on all non-essential activities for two weeks from tomorrow (March 18) until March 31 to stop the spread of the Covid-19 virus under a nationwide movement control order.

This order covers the whole of Malaysia, with a ban on public gatherings including for any religious, sports, social and cultural events except for supermarkets, sundry goods stores, markets and other places selling daily necessities or things that people would need for their day-to-day lives.

This is the first time Malaysia has enforced such an order.

The order was made under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 and the Police Act 1967.