KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 23): Malaysia's new daily Covid-19 cases dropped to 17,672 today, the lowest level in two weeks, according to the Ministry of Health (MOH). This is also the second consecutive day that daily cases have dropped below the 20,000 mark.

A total of 118,158 Covid-19 tests were conducted over the past 24 hours until noon, indicating a positivity rate of 14.96%, versus 138,904 tests done the day before. Based on data compiled, 118,158 tests done is the lowest number in three weeks.

The country's death toll hit 14,342 on Monday with 174 more Covid-19-linked fatalities reported, including 21 brought-in-dead (BID) cases, according to the MOH.

Of the latest fatalities, 53 deaths were reported in Johor, 28 in Penang, 25 in Sabah, 11 in Negeri Sembilan, nine each in Kuala Lumpur, Kedah and Kelantan, seven each in Selangor and Pahang, six in Melaka, four in Perak, and three each in Sarawak and Perlis.

Active cases, which carry high transmission risks, meanwhile, reversed their upward trend for the first time in five months today, as new recoveries came in higher than new infections at 19,053. These brought down the number of active cases to 260,700 — but stayed above the 20,000 mark for 21 straight days — versus 262,255 a day earlier.

Currently, some 1,040 Covid-19 patients are being treated in intensive care units, including 502 that need ventilators to breathe.

The Klang Valley reported a total of 5,231 infections today. Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, which are part of the region, reported the lowest numbers of infections in 34 days.

Selangor — the worst hit state — has 4,316 infections, while Kuala Lumpur has 891 cases, said MOH.

The last time Selangor recorded over 4,000 cases was July 19 with 4,404 cases, while Kuala Lumpur had 609 cases at that time.

Putrajaya, meanwhile, saw 24 cases, up from 11 cases reported a day ago.

Outside the Klang Valley, other states with more than 1,000 cases were Sabah (2,474), Kedah (1,602), Sarawak (1,538), Penang (1,451), Johor (1,367) and Kelantan (1,176).

These were followed by Perak (952), Pahang (506), Negeri Sembilan (478), Terengganu (470), Melaka (363), Perlis (57) and Labuan (seven).

To date, the country's total Covid-19 infections stood at 1.57 million, versus 1.3 million who have been declared cured against the virus.

Among the new infections, 14,337 or 81.13% were patients who either were not vaccinated or had received only one dose, said Dr Noor Hisham.

Nonetheless, the asymptomatic or those with mild symptoms continued to make up the bulk of new cases, with 17,236 or 97.5% being in Categories 1 (no symptoms) or 2 (mild symptoms).

Those with more severe symptoms totalled 436 or 2.5%, spread across Categories 3 (patients with pneumonia), 4 (with pneumonia requiring oxygen therapy) and 5 (critical cases needing assisted ventilation).

The MOH detected 30 new clusters today, including 18 workplace clusters. The remainder was 10 community clusters and two high risk clusters.

The country has reported 4,472 Covid-19 clusters so far, including 3,033 that have been declared ended — leaving 1,439 active clusters.