KUALA LUMPUR (REUTERS, THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Malaysia reported 45 new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus on Wednesday (May 6), taking the cumulative total to 6,428 infections.

The Health Ministry also reported one new death, raising the total number of fatalities from the outbreak to 107.

Malaysia on Wednesday is into the 50th day of its movement control order that was imposed on March 18 to curb the spread of the highly-contagious virus.

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry's secretary-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said 147 people have ran away from quarantine centres, most of them were from the construction sector.

"All of these people have been tested negative, but they are still required to be quarantined for 14 days," he said at his daily briefing on Wednesday.

It was reported that seven foreign nationals ran away from a quarantine centre housed in an educational institution in Kuala Lumpur.

The foreigners' disappearance was noticed around 10am on Monday (May 4), after the doctors in charge made their rounds examining patients under quarantine.

It is believed that those who ran away were Indonesians and Bangladeshis who were living with those suspected of having tested positive for Covid-19 at Selangor Mansion and Menara City One apartments and in Kuala Lumpur's Kampung Baru area.

Dr Noor Hisham added that the ministry has lodged a police report, and that police are taking action against those who ran away.

He also explained that there was no problem with its standard operating procedure (SOP) in light of those running away.

"This is not a problem with SOP. If we look at the first wave, we had Chinese nationals who also ran away from the quarantine centre.

"But what is sure is that these people are not positive, they are quarantined because they have been exposed to a positive case," he said.