KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 11 — The Health Ministry has reported 4,626 Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, breaking the pattern of recording above 5,000 cases for the past three consecutive days.

In a Twitter post, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the total number of infections now stands at 2,688,149.

In a statement, he said that out of 4,626 new cases today, 4,606 are locally transmitted between locals while 166 cases were between foreigners.

There were also 20 imported cases between 15 Malaysians and five non-Malaysians.

Of the total, 96 were in Category 3, 4 and 5, which require hospitalisation.

The remaining 4,531 are in Category 1 and 2, which require only quarantine.

As for those being treated in intensive care units (ICU), Dr Noor Hisham said that there are currently 396 patients, with 344 of them confirmed for Covid-19 and the remaining 52 are suspected, probable or under investigation for Covid-19.

Dr Noor Hisham added that six new Covid-19 clusters were also detected in the country over the past 24 hours.

This brings the number of active clusters in the country to 250.

On a brighter note, 4,690 people have recovered from Covid-19, bringing the total number of recovered cases to 2,596,509.