KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 12): Malaysia today reported a new daily record of 21,668 Covid-19 infections, up from 20,780 yesterday and raising total cases to 1.34 million.

This is the fourth time the country recorded more than 20,000 daily cases, with the previous record high of 20,889 infections posted on Aug 6.

The latest cases were detected after 162,358 individuals across the country were screened, representing a positivity rate of 13.35%, said Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

He said 318 more fatalities linked to the coronavirus were recorded today, the second highest daily death toll, and included 93 cases of death on arrival at the hospital.

The country’s total death toll is 11,691, Dr Noor Hisham said in a statement.

Of the latest fatalities, 118 were reported in Selangor, 52 in Johor, 45 in Kuala Lumpur, 28 in Sabah, 19 in Kedah, 10 in Penang, 10 in Melaka, nine in Perak, eight in Pahang, seven in Negeri Sembilan, and four each in Sarawak, Kelantan and Terengganu.

Dr Noor Hisham said active cases soared further to 237,021 — the 10th straight day above the 200,000 mark — as daily recoveries remained below new infections at 17,687. Total recoveries currently stand at 1.09 million.

Patients in intensive care now total 1,059 — up slightly from 1,053 yesterday — with 543 of them on ventilators.

Dr Noor Hisham said 2,720 or 12.6% of the new Covid-19 cases reported today had a history of vaccination.

Meanwhile, 21,228 or 97.9% of the latest cases are in Category 1 (no symptoms) and 2 (mild symptoms), while 440 cases or 2.1% are in Categories 3 (patients with pneumonia), 4 (with pneumonia requiring oxygen therapy) and 5 (critical cases needing assisted ventilation).

Selangor topped the list again as the State with the most new infections at 6,278, down from 6,921 yesterday.

Kuala Lumpur, meanwhile, saw new cases jump to 2,436 from 2,065, followed by Kedah (2,143), Sabah (2,052), Johor (1,706), Penang (1,229), Sarawak (1,216), Kelantan (972), Perak (930), Negeri Sembilan (899), Pahang (629), Terengganu (594), Melaka (494), Putrajaya (56), Perlis (23) and Labuan (11).

The Ministry of Health identified 45 new infection clusters today, comprising 30 workplace clusters, 11 community clusters, two high risk-group clusters and another two education clusters, with a total of 1,415 infections.

To date, the Ministry has identified 4,079 clusters, including 2,798 that having been declared ended.