KUALA LUMPUR: New Covid-19 cases in the country exceeded the 5,000-mark today, as the national infection rate (Rt) also showed an increase.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the ministry logged 5,566 new cases, an increase from yesterday's 4,774, while the Rt went up from 1.14 to 1.15.
He said 99.1 per cent of the new cases were in categories One and Two, while only 0.9 per cent were in categories Three, Four, and Five.
Of the new cases, 227 were imported cases while 5,339 were local infections.
Dr Noor Hisham also said 113 cases required treatment in the intensive care unit, including 90 confirmed Covid-19 cases, and 23 suspected, probable and under investigation cases.
According to Health Ministry data, only Sarawak, Labuan and Perlis had an Rt of 0.00.
Kedah and Johor logged an Rt of 1.17, followed by Negri Sembilan (1.16), Putrajaya (1.15), Penang (1.14), Kuala Lumpur (1.13), and Selangor (1.12).
He said Melaka and Sabah had an Rt of 1.11, Kelantan with 1.09, Perak with 1.05, Pahang with 1.04 and Terengganu with 0.96.
The ministry also detected seven new clusters, with 318 active clusters currently.
Another 3,187 cases have recovered, bringing the total number of recoveries to 2,787,190 or 96.9 per cent.