219 more succumb to the virus
Cumulative death toll reaches 9,403 as 15,764 new cases recorded
PUTRAJAYA: In just a week, Malaysia again logged a new daily record for Covid-19 deaths after 219 more people succumbed to the coronavirus.
The country’s previous record for daily deaths was 207, reported a week ago on July 26.
In his daily Covid-19 statement, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the country’s death toll reached 9,403.
Two-thirds of the fatalities occurred in the Klang Valley, with 105 cases reported in Selangor and 41 in Kuala Lumpur.
Dr Noor Hisham said 201 of the casualties were Malaysians while 18 were foreign nationals.
At least 176 casualties had some form of comorbidity or underlying conditions.
He said 21 of the fatalities were brought-in-dead cases.
The numbers in intensive care units continued to rise, with 1,063 currently being admitted.
Some 532 patients are on ventilator support.
The total active cases nationwide is now at an all-time high of 199,051.
Dr Noor Hisham said that of the country’s 15,764 new cases reported yesterday, 98.2% were those with either mild or no symptoms.
There are 286 people, which is 1.8% of yesterday’s total cases, who are Category 3, 4 and 5 patients.
At least 54% of the country’s 15,764 cases are those detected from tracing of close contacts.
Another 32% are sporadic infections, while 12% are linked to clusters.
Selangor remained the state with the highest number of cases, with 6,067 new infections reported.
Four other states had more than 1,000 cases – Kuala Lumpur (1,536 cases), Johor (1,222), Sabah (1,166) and Kedah (1,108).
Dr Noor Hisham said that as at Aug 1, the national Covid-19 infectivity rate was at an Rt of 1.08.
Meanwhile, the ministry has identified 29 new Covid-19 clusters, which takes the number of active ones in the country to 1,128.
They include 13 workplacerelated clusters and 11 community outbreaks.
The ministry said five community clusters found in Kelantan, Kedah and Johor were linked to festive occasions.