KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia registered 1,300 new Covid-19 cases today, with Sarawak having the highest number of new infections at 385.
This brought the cumulative cases to 353,329 with 14,161 active cases since the pandemic struck the country, said Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
Dr Noor Hisham, in a statement, said 1,276 cases were local transmissions involving 918 Malaysians and 358 foreigners.
There were 24 imported cases comprising equal numbers of Malaysians and foreigners.
Out of the 385 cases in Sarawak, 352 cases are from clusters and close contact screenings being actively conducted on the ground.
The state with the second highest number of cases was Selangor (242), followed by Kelantan (126) and Sabah (112).
Up to 144 cases are linked to Immigration Detention Depot (DTI) and prisons clusters, namely the Tembok Sri Aman cluster (128 cases), Padang Hijau cluster(12), Tembok Pengkalan Chepa cluster (two), Jalan Harapan Prison cluster (one), and DTI Juru cluster (one).
Dr Noor Hisham said there were five Covid-19 fatalities today, bringing the toll to 1,300.
The fatalities were recorded in Sabah (three) followed by Selangor and Kelantan with one death each, respectively.
The deceased were Malaysians aged between 36 and 80. All but one had pre-existing medical conditions.
There are 189 patients being treated in the Intensive Care Units (ICU) with 88 requiring breathing assistance.
There were 1,412 recoveries recorded in the country today, bringing the total Covid-19 cumulative recoveries to 337,868.