KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia recorded 14,954 new Covid-19 positive cases as of 12pm today, raising the national tally to 2,097,830 since the pandemic struck the country last year.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said 14,711 cases or 98.4 per cent were in Categories 1 and 2 of asymptomatic and symptomatic patients without pneumonia.
"There are 243 cases in Categories 3,4 and 5.
"There are 14,943 cases of local transmissions involving 13,580 Malaysians while the rest are foreigners. There are 11 imported cases involving nine Malaysians and two foreigners," he said in a statement today.
Categories 3, 4 and 5 cases are those who are symptomatic with pneumonia and requiring supplemental oxygen; and critically ill with multi-organ involvement.
Dr Noor Hisham said there were 1,194 cases being treated in the intensive care units with 882 confirmed Covid-19 cases while 312 were suspected and probable cases as well as under investigation.
Cases requiring breathing assistance stood at 665, he said.
Dr Noor Hisham also said there were more recoveries at 23,469 than today's newly detected cases.
Sarawak has the highest number of infections with 2,707 followed by Selangor with 2,028 and Johor with 1,948, he said.
Kelantan recorded 1,420 cases followed by Sabah (1,356), Penang (1,259), Perak (1,222), Kedah (809), Pahang (705), Terengganu (671), Kuala Lumpur (383), Melaka (207), and Negri Sembilan (144).
Perlis and Putrajaya recorded 76 and 19 cases respectively while there was none reported in Labuan.
Dr Noor Hisham said 19 fresh clusters were logged today bringing to a total of 1,348 active ones nationwide.
Up to 13 clusters are workplace transmissions, four community related and one each linked to a detention centre and a high risk group.
Data provided by Dr Noor Hisham also showed the Industri Jalan Haji Kamison cluster in Segambut and Batu Pahat in Johor recorded the highest number of cases in the category.
"This cluster was identified following tests conducted on workers of a mining company in Jalan Haji Kamisan in Chaah, Segamat.
"So far, there are 124 positive cases. A total of 342 people have been screened," he said.
In Pahang, the Pasar Tanah Rata cluster in Cameron Highlands emerged after 15 market traders were infected.
The cluster's index case is a 51-year-old woman who was confirmed positive on Sept 15, after she began showing symptoms five days earlier.
In Sabak Bernam, Selangor, a community cluster was recorded after 14 people from Kampung Baru Nelayan in Sungai Besar contracted the virus.
The cluster's index case is a 42-year-old woman who was confirmed positive on Aug 23 after displaying symptoms on Aug 14.
Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham said the nation's infectivity rate or R-naught (Rt) stood at 0.94.
Sarawak, he said, recorded the highest at 1.08 followed by Pahang and Terengganu at 1.05 respectively while Johor and Perak are at 1.01.
The Rt for the rest of the states nationwide are below 1, with Labuan at 0.