KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s daily COVID-19 new cases skyrocketed to a total of 6,806 infections, a daily record as the country grapples with a surge in infections.
The figure breaks the previous high record that was logged yesterday when the health ministry reported 6,075 daily cases.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said only two from today's new cases were imported while the remainder were local transmissions.
He said the active cases with COVID-19 infection now stands at 50,171 cases.
Selangor accounted for most of the caseload at 2,277 cases, according to ministry data.
This is followed by 655 cases in Kuala Lumpur and 615 cases in Johor.
Meanwhile, other states which recorded three-digit daily cases as of noon today are Kedah with 417, Penang with 362, Negri Sembilan with 291, Perak with 248, Sabah with 245, Terengganu with 233, Melaka with 212 and Pahang with 157 infections.
The latest figures swells Malaysia's total COVID-19 cases to 492,302, the third highest number of infections in the region behind Indonesia and the Philippines.
The country also recorded a total of 3,916 recoveries, bringing the total number of those recovered and discharged to 440, 032.
Dr Noor Hisham said there were 59 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, bringing the country's death toll to 2,099 deaths.
As of today, there are a total of 587 patients receiving treatment at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and 330 of these patients require respiratory assistance.
Melissa Fernando
Thu May 20 2021
The overall positive cases in the country soar to 492,302 infections since the start of the pandemic.
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