KUALA LUMPUR (March 30): Malaysia today reported 1,133 new Covid-19 cases as of noon, up from 941 yesterday — bringing the total confirmed cases to 344,018, said the Ministry of Health.

However, the number of active cases dropped for the second consecutive day to 14,199 as the number of recoveries (1,148) was higher than the new cases. The country's total number of recoveries is 328,554 so far.

Five more deaths were reported. This raised the country’s Covid-19 death toll to 1,265 compared with 474 reported as at Jan 1.

Two deaths were confirmed in Sarawak, two in Kuala Lumpur, and one in Selangor. The deceased — all Malaysians — were aged between 34 and 88 years, said Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

Selangor detected the highest number of new infections with 401, followed by Penang (194) and Sarawak (153), according to his statement.

The newly confirmed Covid-19 cases reported today comprise 1,125 local cases while the remaining eight are imported cases, said Dr Noor Hisham.

Nine more Covid-19 clusters were identified by the ministry, of which five are linked to workplaces, three are community infections while one is a high-risk group cluster.

The five workplace clusters are the Jalan Western cluster, which spans Sepang and Petaling in Selangor (19 infections); the Jalan SC Satu cluster in Hulu Langat, Selangor (six); the Jalan Pinang Raja cluster, which involves Petaling and Klang in Selangor (25); the Batu Enam Setengah cluster in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan (47); and the Jalan Sulaiman cluster involving Kuala Lumpur and Selangor (12).

Two community infection clusters were identified in Tawau, Sabah, namely the Fasa Dua Semarak cluster with six infections and the Ranggu cluster (eight infections). The remaining community cluster is the Jalan Merak cluster in Kulai, Johor (seven infections).

The high-risk group cluster, known as the Kota Kemajuan cluster, spans Johor Bahru and Kota Tinggi in Johor (five infections).

To date, 1,359 clusters have been reported so far in Malaysia, while 990 have been declared ended.

Earlier today, Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Johor, Penang, Kelantan and Sarawak will remain under the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO).

The CMCO will be in force for two weeks from April 1 to 14, except for Sarawak, where it will take effect from March 30 to April 12.