KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia hit another record high of daily Covid-19 infections with 17,405 cases today.
This marks the second time the number of daily cases breached the 17,000 marks after Sunday (July 25) when 17,045 cases were recorded.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah in a statement said this raised the cumulative total of Covid-19 infections in the country to 1,061,476, with active cases stood at 175,113.
The Klang Valley continued to log the bulk of fresh infections with Selangor continuing to record the highest number of infections at 7,171 cases followed by Kuala Lumpur at 2,880.
"Kedah reported 1,112 new cases, followed by Sabah (913), Negri Sembilan (863), Penang (760), Johor (767), Kelantan (532), Melaka (531), Terengganu (490), Sarawak (464), Pahang (429) and Perak with 406.
"Putrajaya reported 68 new cases, 16 in Labuan and three in Perlis," he said.
Of the new cases reported, Dr Noor Hisham said 97.9 per cent (or 17,031) were in Category 1 and 2, while 2.1 per cent (or 374) were in Category 3, 4, and 5.
"In general, only 11.7 per cent (or 2,032 cases) from today's new cases had a history of Covid-19 vaccination," he said.
On fatalities, Dr Noor Hisham said another 143 deaths were reported over 24 hours, bringing the tally to 8,551.
Yesterday, Covid-19 claimed 207 lives, equalling the record toll from the previous day.
Dr Noor Hisham said 41 deaths were recorded in Selangor, 21 in Negri Sembilan, 17 in Johor, 14 in Kuala Lumpur, 11 in Perak, 10 in Kedah, nine in Sabah, seven in Melaka, five each in Penang and Kelantan, and three in Pahang.
"Of the total deaths, 123 were Malaysians," he said.
He added that 14 were brought in dead and 29 had no chronic ailments.
Dr Noor Hisham said there was a slight decrease in the number of patients being treated at the intensive care units (ICUs) with 1,016, compared to 1,023 reported yesterday.
"Of these, 529 were intubated, compared to 524 yesterday.
On recoveries, Dr Noor Hisham said a total of 12,373 new recoveries were reported, bringing the cumulative total of recoveries to 877,812 or 82.7 per cent.
He said R-naught (Rt), infectivity rate, in Malaysia remained at 1.14
"Terengganu is the state with the highest Rt at 1.30, followed by Kelantan (1.27), Johor, Sabah and Kedah (1.23), Penang (1.21), Perak (1.20), Putrajaya (1.18), Kuala Lumpur (1.14), Selangor (1.12), Pahang (1.10), Melaka (1.09), Sarawak (1.01), Negri Sembilan (0.98), Labuan (0.63) and Perlis with 0."
On new clusters, Dr Noor Hisham said 41 clusters were identified today, including 22 workplace clusters, 16 community clusters, two detention centre clusters, and one education cluster.
"Of the 22 workplace clusters, four each were in Penang and Selangor; three each in Kuala Lumpur and Melaka; two each in Johor, Kedah and Negri Sembilan, and one each in Pahang and Perak.
"Of the 16 community clusters, six were in Kelantan; three in Sabah; two in Pahang; and one each in Terengganu, Johor, Melaka, Kedah, and Perak.
"The two detention centre clusters were reported in Johor and Kelantan, while education cluster in Selangor," he said, adding that currently there are 1,050 active clusters.
Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham said the Health Ministry has detected another 10 Covid-19 variants of concern (VOC) in the country.
He said the cases were detected between July 22 and 28.
"A total of 10 cases of new variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus were reported during this period, of which all were Delta variant (B.1.617.2)."
He said the Delta variant cases were reported in Melaka (three), two each in Kedah and Johor, and one each in Terengganu, Perlis, and Selangor.
"As such, the cumulative number of cases infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus categorised as VOC and Variant of Interest (VOI) stands at 439 cases.
He said of the total detected, 419 cases were VOC, and 20 cases were VOI.
"The VOC reported involved 206 cases of Beta variant (B.1.351) (all local transmissions); 199 Delta variant (B.1.617.2) and 14 Alpha variants (B.1.1.7).
"The VOI reported involved 13 cases of Theta variant; four cases of Kappa variant and three cases of Eta variant."