Covid-19 Watch: Daily cases spike to 17,134, Malaysia's R-nought now at 1.39

KUALA LUMPUR: Covid-19 cases continue to spike with 17,134 cases reported on Wednesday (Feb 9).

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said cumulative positive cases were now 2,956,332.

"We also recorded 5,681 recoveries which brings the cumulative recoveries to 2,829,752.

"Of the new positive cases, 130 were import cases involving 73 Malaysians and 57 foreigners," he said in a statement on Wednesday (Feb 9).

He said 143 cases were treated in intensive care units with 73 requiring ventilator support.

"Fifteen new clusters were detected on Wednesday, which brings the number of active clusters to 385.

"Of the 17,134 new cases, 86 were category three, four and five, while the remaining cases were category one and two," he said.

On the country's infectivity rate Dr Noor Hisham said the national R-nought rate was now 1.39.

"All states recorded a value of over 1.0, with Sarawak topping the charts at 1.68, followed by Perlis (1.65) and Sabah (1.59).

"At the bottom of the chart, Melaka recorded a value of 1.20 followed by Kuala Lumpur (1.18) and Negri Sembilan (1.14)," he said.