KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 24 — The number of Covid-19 cases increased again to over 20,000, with 20,837 reported in the last 24 hours, said Health Director-General, Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
The last time Malaysia recorded new cases exceeding 20,000 was last Saturday, with 22,262.
Sharing the latest data on Covid-19 infections via his Facebook page and Twitter account, Dr Noor Hisham said the rise in cases today brought the cumulative number in the country to 1,593,602.
He said Selangor was still recording the highest number of cases with 4,645 followed by Sabah (3,376), Penang (2,054), Kedah (1,772), Johor (1,743), Sarawak (1,543), Kelantan (1,422), Kuala Lumpur (1,284) and Perak (1,242).
Pahang recorded 521 cases, Melaka (396), Terengganu (383), Negeri Sembilan (351), Perlis (74), Putrajaya (27) and Labuan (empat).
Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham said in a statement today that 1,063 patients were being treated in the intensive care unit (ICU), with 511 of them requiring ventilators.
He said 18,613 cases had recovered today, bringing the cumulative figure for recoveries to 1,316,336 and active cases to 262,713.
He said of the 20,837 new cases reported today, 358 cases or 1.7 per cent were in categories three, four and five, while the other 20,479 cases were in categories one and two. Covid-19 is a five-category disease, with category five being the most severe.
A total of 16,949 cases or 81.3 per cent of the cases reported were unvaccinated individuals or those who were not fully vaccinated, he added.
Dr Noor Hisham said 211 fatalities were reported, involving 187 Malaysians and 24 foreigners, with 40 being brought-in-dead (BID) cases. This brings the death toll to 14,553.
On new clusters, he said 34 were detected, with 22 being workplace clusters, nine in the community, two involving high-risk groups and one linked to a detention centre.
Based on the latest data, the Covid-19 infectivity rate or R-Naught (Rt) in Malaysia yesterday was 1.01, with Sarawak recording the highest value at 1.26, followed by Perlis (1.25) and Sabah (1.19).
All states had an Rt exceeding 1.0 except for Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Labuan and Negeri Sembilan.
— Bernama
