.jpg "Healthcare workers collect swab samples to test for Covid-19 during a mass screening exercise in Taman Manggis, George Town August 12, 2021. u00e2u20acu201d Picture by Sayuti Zainudin")
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 12 ― Malaysia made a new Covid-19 record with 21,668 cases in the past 24 hours.
Today’s rate pushed the total cumulative index to 1,342,215 cases since the pandemic arrived in the country last year.
Selangor still topped the highest record in cases among states at 6,278 and followed by Kuala Lumpur at 2,436.
Two other states also recorded above 2,000 cases; Kedah saw 2,143 cases and Sabah had 2,052 cases.
Other than the four states, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said three more recorded four-figure daily cases, including Johor at 1,706, followed by Penang at 1,229 and Sarawak at 1,216.
States that recorded below 1,000 mark were; Kelantan (972), Perak (930), Negri Sembilan (899), Pahang (629), Terengganu (594), Melaka (494), Putrajaya (56), Perlis (23) and Labuan (11).
Dr Noor Hisham also highlighted that out of today’s infection rate, a total of 440 cases (2.1 per cent) were from categories three, four and five which are classified as being from symptomatic to critical.
The remaining 21,228 cases fell into either category one or category two that are classified as being asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic, respectively.
He added that some of the cases remained in the same category throughout the period of infection.
Others, however, saw a change in status, depending on whether they improved, which saw a re-categorisation to a lower category, or declined, which led to a shift to a higher category.
“In total, only 2,720 cases (12.6 per cent) of the total cases reported today were fully vaccinated i.e. those who have reached the end of the two-week period after their second dose,” he said in a statement.
Dr Noor Hisham said the national infectivity rate (R0) currently stands at 1.06, based on yesterday’s caseload.
Despite being in Phase Three of the National Recovery Plan, Perlis has the highest R0 value at 1.40.
Other states and Federal Territories that recorded an R0 above 1.0 are: Kuala Lumpur and Kelantan (1.23), Sabah and Penang (1.16), Perak (1.15), Johor (1.13), Sarawak, Terengganu and Kedah (1.12), Pahang (1.09), Negri Sembilan (1.05), Melaka (1.03), and Selangor (1.01).
Putrajaya recorded an R0 of 0.97.
Dr Noor Hisham said there were 45 new Covid-19 clusters, including 30 from workplaces, 11 from within the general community, two from high-risk groups, and two from education centres.
He added that the clusters with the highest increase in new cases today were the Tapak Bina Jalan Panglima Hitam cluster (122 cases), Industri Japan Telipot Empat cluster (97 cases) and Industri Bangi P10/14 cluster (82 cases).
