KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 9 — Malaysia’s new Covid-19 cases saw a massive jump today with 5,403 new fresh infections reported over the last 24-hours.

This is almost 1,000 cases more than yesterday’s 4,543 cases, with an upward trend observed over the last two days.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the new infections bring Malaysia’s cumulative caseload to 2,516,255 since the pandemic began.

"From the 5,403 new cases reported today, 102 cases or 1.9 per cent are within categories three, four and five.

"While the remaining 5,301 cases or 98.1 per cent are those within categories one and two,” he said in his full statement.

Dr Noor Hisham revealed that 25 of today’s new cases were imported, with the remaining local infections involving 5,155 Malaysians and 223 non-locals.

He revealed that 545 patients were being treated in intensive care units (ICU) nationwide, of which 41 patients are still only suspected Covid-19 positive cases.

Out of this total, Dr Noor Hisham said 270 ICU patients are currently intubated, with 71 individuals still considered as suspected Covid-19 cases.

He also reported 5,311 more patients who were discharged by the Health Ministry over the last day, bringing the cumulative recovery rate to 96.38 per cent or 2.42 million patients discharged.

Additionally, he also reported the discovery of five new infection clusters, detected in workplaces in Negri Sembilan, Melaka, Kuala Lumpur, and Perak, and one in Johor involving a higher education institution.

This brings the total number of Covid-19 clusters detected so far to 5,817, with 307 of those considered as still active.