KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 31 — The Health Ministry recorded 3,573 new Covid-19 infections on the last day of 2021 today.

The cases dipped slightly over the past 24 hours, compared to the 3,997 new infections logged yesterday.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a Twitter post this afternoon that the country has had 2,758,086 cases in all since the pandemic began last year.

As for Covid-19 infections among flood victims, Dr Noor Hisham said a total of 442 people have been infected so far.

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There were no new infections detected in flood relief centres today as well, with the cumulative standing at 15 cases and one cluster detected.

“A total of 1,708 people were also afflicted with infectious diseases such as skin infections, conjunctivitis, acute gastroenteritis and acute respiratory infections commonly associated with floods,” he said, adding that four new cases were reported today.

In his daily statement, Dr Noor Hisham revealed that there were 269 individuals requiring intensive care treatment, of which 217 were confirmed Covid-19 cases and the remaining 52 under investigation.

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“Of the 269, a total of 163 require breathing assistance,” he said.

The number of recoveries also surpassed today’s figure at 3,988 people.

On the overall cases reported, Dr Noor Hisham said 52 or 1.5 per cent were of Categories 3, 4 and 5 patients.

Today’s infection involved 3,031 Malaysians with 199 cases detected among non-locals, and 343 more imported cases.

Apart from that, another five new clusters were registered today for a combined total of 217 active clusters to date.

Dr Noor Hisham also said the nationwide Covid-19 infectivity rate — denoted as R-naught, R0 or Rt — was at 0.98, with Kelantan the highest at 1.05, followed by Terengganu at 1.01, Melaka at 0.98, Johor, Kedah at 0.97, Putrajaya, Perak at 0.95 and Penang at 0.92.

Sarawak recorded the lowest at 0.72.