KUALA LUMPUR (July 17): Malaysia's daily number of Covid-19-linked deaths rose to a record high of 138 today from 115 yesterday while newly confirmed pandemic cases fell to 12,528 from 12,541 mainly on the sharp drop in fresh infections in Selangor to below 5,000, according to Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

Dr Noor Hisham said in an update via Twitter today that the 12,528 newly confirmed Covid-19-infected individuals today brought the country's total number of pandemic cases to 905,851 so far.

According to him, Selangor's number of newly confirmed Covid-19 cases dropped to 4,985 today from 5,512 yesterday.

Elsewhere, Sarawak's number of fresh cases fell to 388 from 423 while Pahang's figure was down to 317 from 382, he said.

Meanwhile, Malaysia's record high daily number of Covid-19-linked deaths today at 138 comprised 128 Malaysians and 10 foreigners, according to Dr Noor Hisham.

He said the 138 deaths brought the country's cumulative number of pandemic-linked fatalities to 6,866.

The country's previous record high daily figure of Covid-19-linked deaths stood at 135, which was reported on July 8, 2021, Dr Noor Hisham said then.

He said in a statement that the 138 deaths reported today involved 46 cases in Selangor, 20 in Negeri Sembilan, 16 each in Kuala Lumpur and Johor, 12 in Pahang, 11 in Melaka, seven in Kedah, four in Perak, three in Penang, two in Terengganu and one in Sabah.

On Malaysia's 12,528 newly confirmed Covid-19-infected individuals today, Dr Noor Hisham said the figure comprises 12,509 local transmission cases and 19 imported infections.

"The 12,509 local transmission cases comprise 9,848 Malaysians and 2,661 foreigners. There are 119,814 active cases," he said.

Across the nation's hospitals today, Dr Noor Hisham said 908 Covid-19 patients are being treated at intensive care units and that 425 patients need breathing assistance.

He said the country reported today 6,629 persons who have recovered from Covid-19 and that the figure brought the nation's cumulative number of individuals who have recovered from the pandemic to 779,171 so far.

Malaysia reported 28 new Covid-19 clusters today. Dr Noor Hisham said the 28 new clusters brought the country's total number of pandemic clusters to 3,233 so far.

Meanwhile, 2,327 Covid-19 clusters have ended, hence, the total number of active pandemic clusters across the nation stood at 906, according to him.

Out of the 28 newly identified Covid-19 clusters today, 19 and six were workplace and community-related clusters respectively, two were high-risk group-linked clusters while one was an education-related cluster, according to him.

Notable workplace-linked clusters included the construction site along Jalan Awan Besar here (Kuala Lumpur) and the Industri Lot 11 Tangga Batu cluster in Melaka after both clusters reported 270 and 150 Covid-19 cases respectively, he said.