KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 24 — The Ministry of Health (MoH) has logged 3,214 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours.

The latest figure represents a decrease of 642 cases from the 3,856 new infections recorded yesterday.

It also brings the total number of Covid-19 cases in the country, since the start of the pandemic, to 2,836,159.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah also disclosed that only 35 or 1.1 per cent of cases reported today were in Categories 3, 4 and 5 that required hospitalisation.

"There are currently 146 patients being treated in intensive care units (ICU), of which 34 are suspected, probable or under investigation for Covid-19.

"Out of these 146, 65 need ventilators to help them breathe, including 40 who are confirmed as Covid-19 positive,” he said.

He added that nine new clusters were also detected over the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of active clusters in the country to 220.

He said that Malaysia’s rate of infection currently stands at 1.08, with Negri Sembilan being the state with the highest infectivity rate, at 1.14.