98% are mostly asymptomatic as cumulative total crosses 1.68 million

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia recorded 22,597 new Covid-19 cases, a slight increase from the 22,070 infections a day before.

This brings the country’s cumulative total to 1,685,510.

Most cases (97.9%) were asymptomatic or had mild symptoms (Categories One and Two), while 2.1% had more severe symptoms namely, those in Categories Three, Four and Five.

“Most or 76.8% of the total cases (17,345 infections) involved those who have yet to be vaccinated or have yet to complete their inoculation,” said Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah in a statement yesterday.

Yesterday’s new infections bring the current number of active Covid-19 cases in the country to 268,548.

There was a drop in deaths from 339 on Friday to 252 fatalities yesterday.

The current death toll from Covid-19 stands at 15,802.

Several states recorded spikes in cases including Perlis, rising from 76 on Friday to 98 yesterday, and Sarawak which saw an increase from 2,224 on Friday to 2,427 yesterday.

Kuala Lumpur recorded a spike from 1,068 cases on Friday to 1,111 yesterday.

While Selangor continues to top the list of cases, the state logged fewer cases – from 5,920 on Friday to 5,814 yesterday.

There were 19,492 recoveries, bringing the total cumulative number to 1,401,160 or a recovery rate of 83.13%.

Some 986 cases are being treated in intensive care units, with 451 requiring ventilator support.

“Based on the latest data on Friday (Aug 27), the infectivity rate of Malaysia (Rt) is now at 1.01.

“Sarawak recorded the highest Rt value at 1.23, followed by Perlis at 1.21 and Sabah at 1.18.

“Six states had Rt values lower than 1.0, namely Melaka, Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Negri Sembilan, Putrajaya and Labuan,” he said.

The Rt value refers to the average number of people that a person who has the coronavirus has infected.

On another matter, Dr Noor Hisham said applications to undergo home quarantine by travellers entering Malaysia through Johor would be processed by the state health department.

“Due to the high number of travellers going through the Johor international entry point, such applications will be processed by the Johor health department.

“All applications must be sent to [e-mail] at least seven days prior to the travellers’ arrival in Malaysia,” he added.