In a statement, health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the total number of infections now stands at 2,294,457.

He said there were 15,615 recoveries, bringing the total number of those discharged to 2,131,636.

There are 851 patients being treated in intensive care, 815 of whom were confirmed cases and 36 suspected to be Covid-19 positive.

Meanwhile, 395 patients required respiratory assistance, with 332 patients Covid-19 positive and the remaining 63 suspected of being positive.

Sarawak recorded the highest number of cases with 1,361.

This was followed by Selangor (1,348), Kelantan (1,063), Johor (886), Sabah (805), Pahang (696), Penang (595), Kedah (576), Perak (473), Terengganu (356), Melaka (246), Kuala Lumpur (217), Negeri Sembilan (122), Perlis (47), Putrajaya (23) and Labuan (3).

There were 8,803 local infections today, comprising 8,109 Malaysians and 694 foreigners, as well as 14 imported cases.

Noor Hisham said of the new infections, only 2.1% were Category 3, 4 and 5 cases.

The country’s Covid-19 infectivity rate (R0, or R-nought) stood at 0.87. Putrajaya had the highest R-nought with 1.04, while Melaka (1.01) and Perlis (1.00) were the only two states with a R-nought that was higher than 1.

Meanwhile, health minister Khairy Jamaluddin said with 8,817 people testing positive from the 170,933 who were screened, it meant that the positivity rate was now 5.16%.

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