KUALA LUMPUR:Malaysia today recorded the highest ever number of new COVID-19 positive cases at 1,755, bringing the cumulative number of positive cases to 38,189.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said that this brought the total number of active cases with infectivity to 11,530.

“Of the total new cases recorded, 1,752 are local transmissions while the other three are imported cases who had been infected while abroad, namely, in Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Myanmar.

“The new cases today involved Sabah which recorded 1,199 cases, Penang (192), Selangor (164), Federal Territory of Labuan (59), Negeri Sembilan (45), Kedah (19), Perak (18), Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur (17), Sarawak (17), Federal Territory of Putrajaya (nine), Terengganu (eight), Johor (three) and Melaka (two),” he said at a press conference on the development of COVID-19 here today.

Dr Noor Hisham said that the number of COVID-19 fully recovered cases is at 726, making the cumulative number of cases that had fully recovered to date to 26,380 cases, or 69.1 per cent of the total cases.

In addition, there were two deaths recorded today, bringing the cumulative number of COVID-19 deaths to 279, while 83 positive cases were being treated in Intensive Care Units with 32 cases requiring respiratory assistance.

Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham said that the method of determining the COVID-19 infection zone is based on the number of daily cases and the number of cumulative cases for the past 14 days, becoming the basis for the District Risk Reduction Program (DRRP).

“It helps to understand the further action that needs to be implemented by the community and guided by the government in the local area. However, the method of determining the COVID-19 infection zone does not only depend on DRRP, but also takes into account the risk of infection and transmission of the virus in an area.

“Among the criteria are the increase in cases, distribution of positive cases, percentage of cases without symptoms, the population density in the affected areas, the local socio-demographic background.

"Also, the existence of shared infrastructure in localities such as markets, schools and houses of worship and if there is a history of mass gatherings in a locality during the period of infection when the case first detected,” he said.

-- BERNAMA