KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 9): Malaysia today saw 2,451 new Covid-19 cases, while total active cases rose to a fresh peak of 26,185.
Since Tuesday, today was the fifth consecutive day with more than 2,000 new cases reported.
Today's tally brought the total number of infections in the country to 133,559, according to Ministry of Health (MoH) director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah in a statement.
Among the active cases, 177 patients were being treated in intensive care units (ICUs), with 82 requiring respiratory assistance.
Meanwhile, 1,401 patients were cured and discharged, bringing the total number of recoveries to 106,832.
Out of the 2,451 new cases today, five were imported, while the rest (2,446) were local transmissions, with 1,858 cases being Malaysians, followed by 588 foreigners.
Selangor continued to have the highest daily number of new cases at 564, representing 23% of today’s confirmed infections, followed by Sabah with 409 cases (16.7%) and Negeri Sembilan with 351 (14.3%).
Johor had 302 new cases today, while Penang had 273 and Kuala Lumpur 198. This was followed by Kedah (65), Kelantan (61), Sarawak (55), Melaka (50), Perak (42), Pahang (36), Putrajaya (17), Terengganu (16), Perlis (eight) and Labuan (four).
Sabah remained as the state with the highest cumulative infections to date, with 40,263 cases in total, followed by Selangor with 38,997 cases and Kuala Lumpur with 15,738.
Additionally, Noor Hisham said 327 cases were reported to be related to the prison clusters, namely the Jalan Harapan Prison cluster (291 cases), Telok Mas cluster (17), Tembok Gajah cluster (nine), Damai Pelangi cluster (eight), Pagar Siput cluster (one) and Tembok Choh cluster (one).
There were five deaths today, bringing the total number of Covid-19 fatalities in the country so far to 542. All five deceased were Malaysian men, aged between 62 and 87, of which three were in Johor and one in Selangor, while the other was in Putrajaya.