KUALA LUMPUR, March 12 — The Health Ministry today reported 1,294 Covid-19 cases and five deaths in the past 24 hours.

In a statement this evening, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the cumulative positive cases is now at 347,972 since the pandemic arrived in Malaysia.

In terms of states, Selangor once again tops the list with the highest number of cases with 455, followed by Sarawak (217) and Penang (139).

Other states that also reported infections are Johor (103), Kuala Lumpur (88), Kelantan (66), Sabah (63), Pahang (57), Negri Sembilan (31), Melaka (22), Kedah (21), Perak (14), Terengganu (eight), Putrajaya (five), Labuan (four), and Perlis (one).

Dr Noor Hisham said 168 patients currently require intensive care, including 78 on ventilators.

He said 1,442 patients had fully recovered and discharged in the last 24 hours, giving the country 332,443 cumulative recoveries.

The five Covid-19 deaths were all locals with various medical conditions, such as diabetes, stroke, high-blood pressure and severe kidney problems.

Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham said health authorities had detected 10 new clusters in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of active clusters to 363.

Of the new clusters announced today, seven were detected at workplaces, while two were spread within the community and one was found within a high-risk group.

"The clusters with the highest increase in new cases today are the Tapak Bina Persiaran Freesia cluster (76 cases), Tapak Bina Sunsuria cluster and Persiaran Cassia Selatan  (55 cases each),” he said.

Dr Noor Hisham also announced that nine clusters had ended today.