KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 6): Malaysia reported another record high of new Covid-19 cases as daily infections climbed further to 20,889 from yesterday's 20,596, according to Health director–general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
This is the second day the country reports over 20,000 cases in a day. The new infections were discovered from the screening of 153,161 people — down from 156,352 yesterday — with a positivity rate of 13.64%, which was up from 13.17% previously.
Selangor continued to report more than 8,000 cases per day for the third consecutive day with today's figure at 8,792. Other states that reported new infections in four digits were Kuala Lumpur (2,483), Kedah (1,371), Sabah (1,291) and Johor (1,275), said Dr Noor Hisham in a statement.
A total of 160 Covid-19-related deaths were also reported today, bringing the coronavirus death toll in the nation to 10,179. Of latest fatalities, 51 deaths were reported in Selangor, 32 in Johor, 22 in Kedah, 17 in Kuala Lumpur, 14 in Negeri Sembilan, six in Pahang, five in Sabah, four each in Melaka and Terengganu, three in Perak, and two in Penang.
Active cases climbed to a new high of 221,396, as new infections continued to outpace the latest 16,394 recoveries. To date, 993,020 people in the country have recovered from the virus, versus 1.22 million overall infections detected, which translates into a recovery rate of 81.09%.
^Almost all the newly infected have little to no symptoms
As has been the recent trend, the bulk or 20,616 (98.7%) of today's cases were classified under Categories 1 (no symptoms) and 2 (mild symptoms).
Only 1.3% or 273 cases were classified as Categories 3 (with pneumonia), 4 (with pneumonia and require oxygen therapy) and 5 (critical and require assisted ventilation).
There are now 1,096 patients in intensive care, with 545 requiring breathing assistance.
^34 new Covid-19 clusters detected on Aug 6
The MOH also identified 34 new Covid-19 clusters today, bringing the number of active clusters to 1,191.
Of the new clusters, 19 were workplace clusters, while the remaining clusters were linked to communities and high-risk groups.