KUALA LUMPUR, July 14 — Malaysia today recorded four new Covid-19 cases, bringing the total number of infections to 8,729.

Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said all four cases were imported; three are Malaysians and one a foreigner.

He also said four patients have recovered today, bringing the total number of patients discharged so far to 8,524, or 97.7 per cent of the total number of cases.

"There are currently 83 active cases. Six patients are being treated in the intensive care unit, with two needing respiratory assistance,” he said during a press conference.

No new Covid-19 related deaths were reported, with the toll remaining at 122.

Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said one of the new imported cases is from the Novgorod cluster.

"Another previous case had also been traced to the cluster as having been a close contact of the index patient.

"Overall, there are five positive cases from the Novgorod cluster. Twenty-two people have been screened so far and close contact tracing is still ongoing,” he said.

Dr Noor Hisham said the second Kuala Lumpur construction site cluster has officially ended after completing its 28-day monitoring period with no new cases reported.

He said the cluster recorded 73 cases in total, involving 72 migrant workers and one Malaysian.

Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham once again said that the Health Ministry does not plan to make wearing face masks mandatory

He explained that making it mandatory means those caught not wearing a mask could, for example, be issued a RM1,000 fine and jailed if they fail to pay the compound.

"We don’t want to use this method (to make it mandatory). But we encourage the use of face masks especially in public, and if we have symptoms,” he said.

He reminded Malaysians to continue complying with the SOPs, and stressed that the virus is still out there and that the public must maintain good personal hygiene and social distancing measures.