KUALA LUMPUR:Malaysia recorded its highest-ever daily figure of new COVID-19 cases today, with 691 cases reported over the past 24 hours, said Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

He said that in line with the sudden spike, the total number of active cases also increased to 2,936.

The latest development also sees the cumulative total number of cases rising to 13,504 over the last three days, after the figure exceeded the 12,000-mark when 12,088 cases were recorded on Oct 3.

A total of 394 cases, which is more than half of today’s figure, involved the Tembok Cluster in Kedah, he told a press conference via the Ministry of Health (MOH) Facebook.

This is the first time that Dr Noor Hisham, who is undergoing self-quarantine, has held a virtual press conference from his house. He even wore a face mask to protect his family members.

Commenting further, he said all the positive cases from the Tembok Cluster were isolated under the administrative Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO) areas and, as such, the risk of infection was very low and under control.

With four more fatalities recorded today, including that of a one-year-old girl, he said the death toll in the country was now 141.

There were also 87 recoveries and 31 patients currently undergoing treatment in the intensive care unit, with eight needing ventilator support.

Of today's 691 total, 688 were local transmissions involving 661 Malaysians and 27 foreigners while the three imported cases comprised a Malaysian returning from India and two foreigners returning from Egypt and the Philippines, he said.

As for the local transmissions, Sabah had 219 cases; Kedah (397 cases, including the Tembok Cluster); Selangor (38); Perak (eight); Negeri Sembilan (seven); Johor (six); Kuala Lumpur (four); Sarawak and Penang (three each); and Terengganu, Labuan and Putrajaya (one each).

-- BERNAMA