KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 8 — Malaysia recorded a slight uptick in Covid-19 cases over the past 24 hours with 4,543 new cases being detected, as compared to 4,343 cases previously recorded.

This breaks the downward trend of new Covid-19 cases that the country had been seeing in the past four days.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said that this brings the total number of cases in the country to 2,510,852.

He also said that only 15 cases today were imported, with 13 of them involving Malaysians, while two of them were foreigners.

"Of the 4,343 cases today, only 112 cases or 2.5 per cent of the total number of cases are in Category 3, 4 and 5 — which requires hospitalisation — while the remaining 97.5 per cent are in Category 1 and 2,” he said.

Dr Noor Hisham added that 534 patients require treatment in intensive care units (ICU), with 529 confirmed positive for Covid-19 and five others that were either suspected, probable or under investigation.

"Out of the 534, 263 need ventilators to help them breathe, including 205 confirmed cases and 58 others that were either suspected, probable or under investigation,” he said.

He said that 7,348 recoveries were also recorded today, bringing the total number of recoveries in the country to 2,419,743.

Six new Covid-19 clusters were also identified today, with half of them related to workplaces. The remaining three clusters are connected to a higher education institution, an education institution, and a holding facility.

The six new clusters now make the total number of active clusters in the country to 314.