KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 6): Malaysia today reported 17,352 new Covid-19 cases — its lowest daily count in the past 28 days — down 3,044 or 14.9% from the 20,396 cases recorded on Sunday (Sept 5).

The latest cases were discovered from the testing of 104,892 people in the past 24 hours as of noon — the lowest testing figure in 47 days — representing a positivity rate of 16.54%.

Sarawak displaced Selangor as the state with the most daily cases with 3,714 infections, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a statement.

Covid-19 cases in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, meanwhile, dropped to their lowest in three months, as Selangor reported 2,126 cases while Kuala Lumpur logged 398 cases. These, together with Putrajaya, which has 23 cases, gave Klang Valley a collective 2,547 cases.

And after Sarawak and Selangor, Johor reported the highest daily figure at 2,101, followed by Sabah (1,844), Kedah (1,599), Penang (1,558), Kelantan (1,213), Perak (1,082), Terengganu (700), Pahang (463), Melaka (295), Negeri Sembilan (193), Perlis (38), and Labuan (five).

Total coronavirus-related deaths now stand at 18,491, as 272 more daily deaths were reported, including 81 brought-in-dead (BID) cases involving 56 Malaysians and 25 foreigners.

Active cases, meanwhile, dropped for the sixth straight day to 252,668, as new recoveries of 20,201 surpassed fresh infections. Total recoveries now stand at 1.59 million, 85.4% of the 1.86 million cumulative infections detected.

There are now 975 patients being treated in intensive care units, including 435 who need ventilators to breathe.

Among the new infections, 17,084 cases or 98.5% had no symptoms (Category 1 patients) or only mild symptoms (Category 2). Of these, 11,250 or 65.9% were unvaccinated (7,528) or partially vaccinated (3,722), while 5,834 or 34.1% were fully vaccinated.

The remaining 268 cases were in Category 3 (patients with pneumonia), Category 4 (patients with pneumonia requiring oxygen therapy) and Category 5 (critical patients requiring assisted ventilation). Of the patients in these categories, 71.3% were unvaccinated (118) or partially vaccinated (73), while 77 or 28.7% were fully vaccinated.

An additional 30 Covid-19 clusters were detected today, comprising 16 workplace clusters, seven community clusters, four high risk group clusters, two education clusters and one detention cluster.

To date, 4,921 clusters have been reported nationwide, including 3,468 that have been declared ended, leaving 1,453 active ones.