COVID: New cases breach 5,000 mark again

KUALA LUMPUR: New COVID-19 infections in the country continue to show an upward trend for the third day in a row with 5,439 cases reported today.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the latest figure takes the cumulative number of COVID-19 cases to 2,850,408.

This is the first time since Dec 10 daily cases have surpassed the 5,000 mark, he added.

Of the new infections, 99.1 per cent of 5,392 cases were in categories one and two, while the rest were in categories three, four and five.

"332 were import cases and 5,107 were local transmissions. There are a total of 124 cases in the intensive care unit and 70 require respiratory assistance," he said in a statement today.

Also, 4,409 recovered cases were reported today taking the cumulative number of recoveries to 2,770,663.

Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham said 22 new COVID-19 clusters were recorded, adding that there are now 274 active clusters in the country.

He also said that Malaysia's infectivity rate (Rt) was at 1.13 with Negeri Sembilan recording the highest Rt yesterday at 1.18.

"As for those unvaccinated but have yet to be infected with COVID-19, you are now in the group with the highest risk of contracting the virus," he said.

Dr Noor Hisham said the Health Ministry would continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation via information obtained from the World Health Organisation (WHO) as well as ensure preventive and control measures continue to be taken.

-- BERNAMA