KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 26 — Malaysia today recorded 24,599 new cases of Covid-19, the highest daily figure since the pandemic hit the country last year.
In a Facebook post, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the new development brought the cumulative number of cases in the country to 1,640,843.
He said Selangor continued to record the highest number of cases at 6,936 cases followed by Sabah (3,487); Johor (2,785); Penang (2,078); Sarawak (2,024); Kedah (1,538); and Kelantan (1,312).
A total of 1,170 cases were recorded in Perak; followed by Kuala Lumpur (881); Pahang (690); Terengganu (567); Negeri Sembilan (526); Melaka (515); Perlis (67); Putrajaya (20); and Labuan (three), he added.
Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham in a statement said the country also witnessed the highest number of fatalities at 393, involving 294 Malaysians and 99 foreigners, with 100 being brought-in-dead (BID) cases.
Dr Noor Hisham said of the total daily new cases today, 23,939 cases or 97.3 per cent were in categories one and two, while 660 cases or 2.7 per cent were in categories three, four and five.
Covid-19 is a five-category disease, with category five being the most severe.
He added 80.33 per cent of the new cases involved individuals not yet fully vaccinated.
Dr Noor Hisham said the country also recorded the highest number of recoveries in the past month at 22,657, bringing the total tally of recovered cases to 1,640,843.
“Compared to July 25 this year, the number of cases discharged from hospitals was 1,562 people and this number increased to 2,153 people on August 25, 2021 … This is a positive sign,” he said.
Dr Noor Hisham said 909 patients were being treated in the intensive care unit (ICU), with 487 of them requiring ventilators.
He said the number of active cases stood at 265,841 cases while a total of 35 new clusters were detected with 20 of them involving the workplace, nine in the community, four linked to high-risk groups and one detention centre and education institution cluster each.
Based on the latest data, the Covid-19 infectivity rate or R-Naught (Rt) in Malaysia yesterday was 1.02, with Sarawak and Perlis registering the highest Rt value of 1.22, followed by Sabah (1.21) and Penang (1.12).
The states that recorded Rt values below 1 were Melaka, Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Labuan and Negeri Sembilan.
— Bernama
