KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia reported its highest daily death toll since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic with 135 cases recorded in the past 24 hours.

Health director-general, Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the additional cases brought the country's total death toll to 5,903 people or 0.73 per cent of the total infections.

He said the death cases involving 119 Malaysians and 16 foreigners surpassed the previous record of 126 cases on June 2.

Meanwhile, the new COVID-19 infections today jumped to 8,868 cases from 7,097 cases reported yesterday bringing the cumulative cases to 808,658.

In a tweet, Dr Noor Hisham said Selangor also reported its highest daily cases with 4,152 cases followed by Kuala Lumpur (1,133); Negeri Sembilan (897); Johor (336); Sarawak (281) and Sabah (279).

In his statement, Dr Noor Hisham said from the 8,868 new cases reported today, 8858 were local transmissions involving 6,867 locals and 1,991 foreigners while 10 cases were imported involving five locals and five foreigners.

"The total recovery cases today was 5,802, taking the overall figure of individuals who recovered from the pandemic to 725,480 now or 89.7 per cent while the number of active cases so far stands at 77,275," he said.

Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham said there are 952 patients being treated at intensive care units (ICU) with 445 of them on respiratory assistance.

The Ministry of Health also detected 29 new clusters involving 19 workplace clusters, eight community clusters, one high-risk group cluster at Jalan Ria, Johor and a higher education cluster at Jalan Jenderam Hulu, Selangor.

The workplace clusters are Jalan Radin Dua, Jalan Medan Putra, Taman Perusahaan Kepong and Jalan Sri Permaisuri construction site (Kuala Lumpur); Putra Dua (Putrajaya, Kuala Lumpur and Selangor) ; Jaya Industry Sungai Buloh, Sungai Lalang Industry and Jenderam Hilir construction site (Selangor); Bunga Tanjung Industry, Sendayan Metropark Industry as well as Emas Satu Industry (Negeri Sembilan).

The other workplace clusters were detected at Jalan Daiman, Jalan Harmonium 33 and Bakri Empat Industry (Johor); Jalan Tanah Putih and Jalan Gebeng 1/11 (Pahang); Jalan Stapunal Industry in Kelantan; Lebuh Pantai Baru in Perak as well as Dah 90 Industry Sungai Petani in Kedah.

The community clusters involved Taman Tanjung Mas and Kampung Batu 8 1/4 (Kelantan); Kampung Istimewa 2 and Lumadan (Sabah); Bandar Baru Sentul 2 in Kuala Lumpur; Sega in Sarawak; Taman Tasek Solok Dua in Perak as well as Titian 2 in Labuan.

In this regard, Dr Noor Hisham said Putrajaya recorded the highest infectivity rate (Rt) at 1.22, which is above the national Rt of 1.07.

"Other states with Rt above 1.0 are Kuala Lumpur (Rt 1.15), Pahang (Rt 1.13), Selangor (Rt 1.12), Melaka (Rt 1.11), Kedah ( Rt 1.07), Sabah ( Rt 1.06), Perak ( Rt 1.03), Negeri Sembilan ( Rt 1.02), and Penang (Rt 1.01)," he said.

-- BERNAMA