KUALA LUMPUR: The number of infectious diseases detected among flood victims nationwide continues to rise, with the latest figure standing at 135 cases.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said 102 flood victims are suffering from acute respiratory infections (ARI), 28 have skin diseases while five others were identified with food poisoning or acute gastroenteritis (AGE).
This brings the total number of infectious diseases reported among victims since the massive flood hit the country last month to 2,212.
Dr Noor Hisham said as of 3pm today, four new Covid-19 cases were recorded among flood victims, bringing the tally to 465. As for temporary evacuation centres (PPS), he said no new Covid-19 cases were detected there.
Covid-19 clusters among flood victims remained the same with only one cluster reported so far, he said.
"The total number of PPS that are still operational are 198 with 83 in Johor, Pahang (48), Sabah (23), Melaka (22), Negri Sembilan (18), and two in Selangor and Terengganu, respectively.
"Seven states are still affected by the floods namely Terengganu, Pahang, Selangor, Negri Sembilan, Melaka, Johor and Sabah.
"The total number of people affected by the floods stand at 14,093," he said in a statement today.
He also cautioned flood victims against playing or wading through floodwaters as it could lead to infection.
"Ensure cleanliness at all relief centres and avoid eating food or drinking water that is contaminated.
"Health officers at all health facilities must be alert over the possibility of infectious diseases that comes with flood. Always do the necessary checkups so that immediate treatment can be given," he said.
Earlier, Dr Noor Hisham said Malaysia recorded 2,842 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24-hour period, a slight increase from yesterday's 2,690 cases.
This brings the total number of Covid-19 cases in Malaysia to 2,769,886 since the onset of the pandemic.
He said as of yesterday, the nationwide Rt or infectivity rate was still at 0.99.
The number had remained at that level since Jan 1.
"Total recoveries today are 2,862 while the number of patients placed in the intensive care units (ICU) are 252. Of this, 196 were confirmed to have been infected with Covid-19 while the remaining 56 cases are still under investigation.
"There are 134 patients who require breathing assistance and of this figure, 82 of them are confirmed Covid-19 positive while the remaining 52 cases are under investigation.
"There were two new clusters detected today. Currently, there are 200 active clusters while 5,939 clusters have ended.
"Of the 2,842 new cases, 47 or 1.7 per cent are under categories three, four and five while 2,795 cases (98.3 per cent) are under categories one and two," he said.