20,596 new cases, highest since nation hit by pandemic – Health DG
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia recorded 20,596 new Covid-19 cases yesterday, which is highest daily figure since the pandemic began in the country in February last year, said Health directorgeneral, Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
According to the latest Covid19 infection data shared on his Twi er site, he said the latest development brings the cumulative Covid-19 transmissions in the country to 1,203,706 cases.
He said Selangor is still the leading contributor with 8,549 cases reported followed by Kuala Lumpur with 2,163 cases, Kedah (1,446), Johor (1,300), Sabah (1,062) and Penang (1,022).
Meanwhile, Negeri Sembilan recorded 989 cases, Perak with 916 cases, Kelantan (772), Sarawak (759), Melaka (622), Terengganu (501), Pahang (426), Putrajaya (50) and Labuan (15), while Perlis has only four cases.
On Wednesday, Malaysia recorded 19,819 new cases.
Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham in a statement said from the 20,596 new cases, 398 cases (1.9 per cent) were in category three while 20,198 cases (98.1 per cent) are in categories one and two.
“This is based on the clinical condition of the newly diagnosed Covid-19 cases currently. Some remained in the same category throughout infection period but some changed health status in ge ing be er to a lower category or worsen into higher categories,” he said.
On the overall, Dr Noor Hisham said only 4,660 cases (22.6 per cent) from the total cases reported yesterday have history of Covid-19 immunisation.
He said there were 164 fatalities recorded with 45 cases in Selangor; Johor (27); Kuala Lumpur (24); Kedah (18); Perak (10); and nine cases each in Sabah, Penang, and Melaka; Negeri Sembilan (seven); two each in Sarawak and Pahang; as well as one case each in Kelantan and Terengganu.
The death toll involved 150 locals and 14 non-citizens.
There were 1,078 cases being treated in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) with 549 patients on ventilators.
“Today, 13,893 recoveries were recorded taking the total recovery cases to 976,626 or 81.1 per cents,” he said.
On the 33 new clusters identified, Dr Noor Hisham said 18 of them were workplace clusters, 12 community clusters, two detention centre clusters and one high-risk group cluster.
He said the Covid-19 infectivity rate or R-naught (Rt) in Malaysia yesterday was 1.07 with Kelantan recording the highest value at 1.31 followed by Terengganu (1.26) and Perak (1.22).