Malaysia reports rise in new cases

Malaysia’s health authorities have reported 62 new coronavirus cases,
the sharpest spike since early June, just as the government began
barring long-term immigration pass holders from countries with high
infection numbers.

Southeast Asia’s third-largest economy imposed a ban on pass holders
from 23 countries that have reported more than 150,000 Covid-19 cases,
in a bid to clamp down on imported cases. Countries on the ban list
include the US, Britain and France.

Of the total new cases reported, 50 were detected in an existing
cluster in Sabah state on Malaysian Borneo, stemming from the
detention of two undocumented migrants two weeks earlier, the health
ministry said.

The others were detected in a new cluster in the northern state of
Kedah and six arrivals from Turkey, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Egypt,
the ministry said in a statement.

Malaysia currently has 9,459 confirmed coronavirus infections, of
which 128 led to deaths.