KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 20,380 cases or 98.1 per cent of the 20,780 new COVID-19 cases reported today, are in categories 1 and 2, namely, asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic.

In a statement, Health director-general (DG) Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said another 400 cases or 1.9 per cent were patients in categories 3 (pneumonia), 4 (requiring oxygen) and 5 (critical).

He said this was based on the clinical condition of the current cases of newly diagnosed COVID-19.

"Some of the cases remain in the same category throughout the period of infection but some change the health status either improving to a lower category or declining to a higher category."

Dr Noor Hisham said only 5,138 cases or 24.7 per cent of total cases reported today had a history of COVID-19 immunisation.

He said a total of 17,973 recovered cases were reported today while the number of active COVID-19 cases nationwide stood at 233,358.

According to him, 211 fatalities were recorded today involving 184 Malaysians and 27 foreigners. A total of 1,053 patients were being treated at the intensive care unit (ICU) with 546 of them requiring respiratory assistance.

On new clusters, he said a total of 31 new clusters were detected today, with 18 clusters involving workplaces, followed by community clusters (11) and high-risk group clusters (two).

He added that a total of 2,776 clusters were declared ended while 1,258 clusters were still active nationwide.

-- BERNAMA