KUALA LUMPUR: The daily new cases of COVID-19 in Malaysia increased further today to 5,446 from 5,020 reported yesterday, bringing the cumulative total to 2,678,465 cases.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said 5,358 or 98.4 of the new cases were in categories one and two, while only 88 or 1.6 per cent were in categories three, four and five.

COVID-19 is a five-category disease, with category one being the mildest and category five the most severe.

Dr Noor Hisham said 5,427 recoveries were recorded today, bringing the cumulative figure for recoveries to 2,586,822.

In a statement, Dr Noor Hisham also said 419 cases were being treated in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) with 232 requiring ventilator support.

Seventeen new clusters were detected today, bringing the number of active clusters in the country to 254.

The infectivity rate or Rt value for Malaysia yesterday was 0.98.

Detailed information on the COVID-19 situation in Malaysia is available on the COVIDNOW website at https://covidnow.moh.gov.my, and the data will be updated at midnight every day.

-- BERNAMA