PETALING JAYA: Malaysia recorded 2,124 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday (May 19), bringing the total number of cases in the country to 4,485,419 infections since the pandemic began.

       The Health Ministry's CovidNow portal reported that 2,123 of Thursday's new Covid-19 cases were local transmissions while one imported infection was logged.

       Recoveries outpaced new infections, with 2,303 patients recovering on Thursday. This brings the cumulative number of recoveries in Malaysia to 4,419,997 since the pandemic began.

       The portal also reported that there were 29,789 active cases currently in the country, with 28,569, or 95.9%, observing home quarantine and 20 individuals, or 0.1%, admitted to low-risk quarantine and treatment centres.

       The CovidNow portal reported that 1,200 patients, or 4.03% of the total, were currently admitted to hospital for treatment. The number of Covid-19 patients warded at intensive care units (ICU) throughout the country stands at 35, with 22 of these patients requiring ventilation support.

       The ICU utilisation rate nationwide stood at 56.8%, with six states or localities recording ICU usage rates of more than 60%.

       Selangor had the highest ICU utilisation rate at 77.9%, followed by Melaka (73.9%), Kedah (68.5%), Johor (66.7%), Kuala Lumpur (66%) and Kelantan (64.6%).

       Meanwhile, the Health Ministry's GitHub data repository reported that three Covid-19 deaths were reported on Thursday, of which two were classified as brought-in-dead (BID).

       This brings the death toll to 35,633.