PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia’s Covid-19 cases remained in the four-digit level for the fifth straight day, with the country recording 9,890 more infections.

       Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah (pic) said cumulatively, Malaysia has had 2,313,727 Covid-19 cases since the pandemic began in March last year.

       “Of the 9,890 new cases, 98.4% of them are either mild or asymptomatic cases. Another 162 cases (1.6%) are Categories 3 to 5 cases,” he said in his daily Covid-19 statement yesterday.

       Sarawak and Selangor recorded the highest number of cases, reporting 1,413 and 1,402 new infections respectively.

       Kelantan was the third highest with 1,032 new cases.

       Malaysia’s infectivity rate is at an Rt level of 0.86, as at Wednesday.

       None of the states reported an Rt level above 1, which indicates that Covid-19 transmission in the entire country is shrinking.

       Malaysia also discharged 12,884 Covid-19 patients in the same 24-hour span.

       This brings the total number of recoveries to 2,157,565, which is a recovery rate of 93.3%.

       The number of patients in intensive care units (ICUs) is at 827, down from 851 the previous day.

       Dr Noor Hisham said that nationwide, the ICU utilisation rate is now at 63%. The Health Ministry also identified 13 new clusters.