COVID: New cases drop to 12,541 today - Health DG

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's daily tally of COVID-19 cases dropped to 12,541 today from the record high of 13,215 yesterday.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah in his tweet said this brought the country's cumulative total of COVID-19 cases to 893,323.

Selangor still has the highest number of new cases at 5,512, followed by Negeri Sembilan (1,619) and Kuala Lumpur (1,542).

Other states were recording below 1,000 cases namely Johor with 609 cases, Melaka (575), Kedah (458), Sarawak (423), Pahang (382), Penang (376), Sabah (326), Perak (299), Kelantan (225), Terengganu (102), Putrajaya (62), Labuan (24) and Perlis, seven.

Of the 12,541 daily cases reported today, Dr Noor Hisham said 6,504 cases were in Category One (asymptomatic) of the five-category COVID-19 disease while 5,848 cases were in Category Two (mildly symptomatic); 86 cases (Category Three - pneumonia); 49 cases (Category Four - pneumonia and requiring oxygen); and 54 cases (Category Five - critical and requiring assisted ventilation).

Meanwhile, he said in a statement that active cases in the country hit record high of 114,053 today.

He said 6,742 recovery cases were recorded bringing the cumulative recoveries to 772,542 while 115 deaths were recorded in the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to 6,728.

"The fatalities involved 53 cases in Selangor; Kuala Lumpur (24); Johor and Melaka seven cases each; Penang (five); Negeri Sembilan and Kedah four cases each; Sabah and Perak three cases each; Kelantan and Terengganu two cases each while Labuan recorded one case," he said.

The number of patients being treated at intensive care unit (ICU) was 896 people with 459 of them on respiratory assistance, he said.

Dr Noor Hisham added that a total of 37 new clusters were identified today, the highest since the pandemic hit the country last year.

"Nineteen are workplace-linked clusters, eight are community clusters, four are from detention centres, three linked to high-risk groups and three education," he said.

He added that Malaysia's COVID-19 infectivity rate (R-naught or Rt) yesterday was at 1.20.

Putrajaya recorded the highest Rt rate at 1.32, while the other states that recorded the Rt rate higher than 1.0 were Terengganu (1.27); Kedah (1.23); Selangor and Penang 1.20 each; Negeri Sembilan (1.17); Kuala Lumpur (1.15); Melaka (1.14); Pahang (1.12); Johor, Kelantan and Perak 1.10 each; and Sabah (1.09).

-- BERNAMA