KUALA LUMPUR, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia reported 862 new COVID-19 infections, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday, bringing the national total to 22,225.
Health Ministry Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a press briefing that two of the new cases are imported and 860 are local transmissions, among which 673 were reported from the eastern state of Sabah.
Three more deaths have been reported, bringing the death toll to 193.
Another 634 patients have been released after recovery, bringing the total cured and discharged to 14,351, or 64.6 percent of all cases.
Of the remaining 7,681 active cases, 95 are being held in intensive care and 29 of those are in need of assisted breathing.
Meanwhile, Defense Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said employees involved in management and supervision, in states under movement restrictions, will be instructed to work from home from Thursday onwards, to reduce the number of employees at offices which expected to affect 1 million employees.
He said the decision was made in view of the rise in the number of COVID-19 cases in the affected areas and clusters involving workplaces.
Movement restrictions are now in place since last week in the capital Kuala Lumpur, the administration center of Putrajaya as well as the adjacent Selangor state and Sabah following the spike in new daily cases. Enditem
