KUALA LUMPUR: The number of new COVID-19 positive cases in the country exceeded the 5,000 mark for the third consecutive day today.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, via a Twitter post, said that a total of 5,812 cases were recorded today, bringing the cumulative number of COVID-19 cases in the country to 722,659.

He said Selangor still recorded the highest number of daily cases at 2,187, followed by Kuala Lumpur (771); Sarawak (673); Negeri Sembilan (658); Penang (270); Melaka (223); Johor (196); Kedah (186); Sabah (156); Pahang (139); Labuan (123); Kelantan (98); Perak (72); Terengganu (46) and Putrajaya (14) while no new cases were reported in Perlis.

Meanwhile, in his statement, Dr Noor Hisham said the new COVID-19 cases reported today were 5,780 local transmissions involving 4,214 citizens and 1,566 non-citizens, while there were only 32 imported cases involving 17 Malaysians and 15 foreigners.

During the same period, the number of recoveries, however, exceeded the daily cases at 6,775, bringing the cumulative total to 657,739.

"The number of active cases stands at 60,117 while the number of COVID-19 patients treated in intensive care units is 870 people, including 433 of them requiring respiratory assistance," he said.

Dr Noor Hisham said 82 fatalities were recorded due to the coronavirus today involving 71 citizens and 11 foreigners aged between 24 and 89, the majority of them suffered from chronic diseases, taking the death toll to 4,803.

He said 21 new clusters were detected involving 18 workplace clusters and two community clusters namely Pengkalan Gelugor cluster in Terengganu and Jalan Laksamana Intan (Perak) cluster as well as one detention centre cluster in Puncak Borneo, Sarawak.

Workplace clusters were identified in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur namely Lebuh 2 construction site, Jalan City construction site, Industri Jalan Seruling, Industri SS Lapan Dua, Industri Jalan Norton, Jalan Cyberia Dua, and Industri Kilometer 17 Rawang (Selangor) and Jalan Ampang Water Front Dua (Selangor and Kuala Lumpur) as well as Jalan Utara and Matahari 2 construction site clusters, Jalan Taman Ibu Kota and Jalan Raja Muda Musa (Kuala Lumpur).

Besides that, workplace clusters were also identified in Melaka (Jalan Nirwana Dua); Kelantan (Wakaf Aik); Penang (Jalan Kampung Jawa); Pahang and Perak (Kailan Tringkap); Kedah (Dah 11 Industri Sungau Petani) and Sarawak (Jalan Kidurong Lima).

-- BERNAMA