KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 16 — Malaysia’s daily Covid-19 numbers took a slight dip over the past 24 hours, to 19,740 cases today.
The new cases pushed the cumulative total to 1,424,639 since the pandemic arrived in Malaysia last year
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said Selangor again topped the list with 5,760 new cases, followed by Sabah (1,728).
Other states that recorded cases above the 1,000 mark in daily Covid-19 infection rate include Kedah at 1,592, Sarawak (1,566), Johor (1,510), Kuala Lumpur (1,360), Penang (1,251), Kelantan (1,227), and Melaka (1,120).
The remaining states recording new cases were Perak (938), Terengganu (688), Pahang (646), Putrajaya (43), Perlis (20) and Labuan (two).
Dr Noor Hisham also highlighted that of today’s 19,740 cases, only 298 or 1.5 per cent of were in category 3 and higher, while the remaining 19,442 or 98.5 per cent are under category 1 and 2.
He added that 16,805 of today’s cases have either only had their first shot of the Covid-19 vaccine or have not taken any shots at all.
“Of the 19,740 new cases today, 19 were imported into the country while the remainder was transmitted locally,” said Dr Noor Hisham.
He said that 274 deaths were also recorded today, bringing the total number of deaths in the country from the deadly disease to 12,784 or 0.89 per cent of all cases.
“Of the 274 deaths today, 77 of them were brought in dead. They involve 28 locals and 49 foreigners,” he said.
Dr Noor Hisham also shared that there are currently 1,047 Covid-19 patients being treated in intensive care units (ICU), with 520 of them needing ventilators to help them breathe.
Malaysia recorded 17,450 recoveries today, bringing the total number of people who have recovered from Covid-19 to 1,162,578 or 81.61 per cent.
He said that 35 new Covid-19 clusters have also been discovered in the last 24 hours, bringing the number of active clusters in the country to 1,339.
“Of the 35 new clusters, 21 involve workplaces, 11 from community transmissions, two involving high risk groups and one involving an educational facility,” he said.
Dr Noor Hisham also shared that Malaysia’s rate of infection nationwide currently stands at 1.05, with Perlis having the highest rate of infection at 1.29.
“This is followed by Kelantan (1.19) and Sabah (1.16). Every state in the country recorded a rate of infection higher than 1.0 except for the Federal Territories of Labuan, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya,” he said.
*Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article contained an error which has since been rectified.
