KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 199 fatalities were reported today, the highest number recorded since the pandemic hit the country, bringing the COVID-19 death toll to 7,440, said Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

Of the number he said, 84 deaths were reported in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur (57), Melaka (16), Kedah (12), Negeri Sembilan (seven), Johor (six), Pahang (six), Terengganu (three), Penang (two), Perak (two), Kelantan (two) and one case each in Sabah and Sarawak.

"Currently, 927 patients are being treated in the intensive care unit (ICU) with 459 of them requiring ventilator support.

"A total of 7902 recoveries were reported in the last 24 hours, bringing the cumulative number of recovered cases to 806,857 while the number of active cases now stands at 137,587," he said in a statement on COVID-19 development.

According to Dr Noor Hisham, Malaysia recorded 11,985 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, with Selangor still recording the highest number with 5,550.

Of the total number of cases, 65 were from category five (critical and requiring respiratory assistance), 45 cases from category four (pneumonia and requiring oxygen assistance), 178 category three cases (pneumonia), 5,847 category two cases (mild symptomatic), and 5,850 category 1 (non-symptomatic) cases.

"Overall, only 2.4 per cent of the cases reported today were in categories three to five and 97.6 per cent of the cases were in categories one and two, which is when they were first diagnosed," he said.

He said from the reports received by the National Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre (CPRC) and the Hospital Services CPRC, younger age groups such as those in their 40s and 50s were were more commonly found in the ICU than senior citizens aged 60 and above.

It said this proved that the vaccine has helped reduce COVID-19 infection among the vulnerable and elderly.

"Therefore, the MOH would like to continue to call on Malaysians, especially those aged 18 to 59 to register, and get the COVID-19 vaccine on the appointed date and time," he said.

Apart from that, Dr Noor Hisham said there were 30 new clusters detected, with 17 involving the workplace, community (eight), high-risk group (two), religious (two) and higher education (one), bringing the total number of active clusters to 931.

He added that the COVID-19 infectivity rate or R-naught (Rt) average in Malaysia yesterday was 1.12, with Terengganu recording the highest value of 1.31, followed by Sabah (1.25), Kedah (1.23), Penang (1.22), Johor (1.20), Putrajaya (1.19), and Selangor (1.15).

Other states which also recorded an Rt above 1.0 were Negeri Sembilan (1.14), Pahang (1.14), Perak (1.13), Melaka (1.12), Kelantan (1.10), and Kuala Lumpur (1.08).

-- BERNAMA