PUTRAJAYA: Covid-19 recoveries outnumbered new cases yesterday with 5,168 patients declared free of the virus compared to 4,879 new infections.

       The new cases brought the cumulative Covid-19 infections in the country to 2,632,782 since the pandemic started last year.

       The Health Ministry said 24 of the new infections were imported cases involving 16 Malaysians and eight non-citizens.

       “There were 509 cases needing attention at intensive care units, of which 394 were Covid-19 positive and 115 suspected, probable and suspected cases,” it said in a statement.

       It added that of the new cases, 4,800 or 98.4% were those in Categories 1 and 2 while 79 cases or 1.6% were patients in Categories 3, 4 and 5.

       “Nine new clusters were also detected, bringing the number of clusters to date to 5,947. There are now 231 active clusters,” it added.

       The ministry also said the decline in the R-nought value last week (epidemiology week 47) brought positive effects, with Covid-19 infections showing a downward trend compared to week 46.

       “However, the emergence of new clusters saw an increase in week 47 in all categories except workplaces and imported cases, which is worrying,” it said.

       The ministry said between Nov 20 and 27, the number of cumulative cases saw a decline of 6.8% from 40,600 cases in week 46 to 37,830 cases in week 47.

       The number of deaths also saw a downward trend with 304 deaths reported in week 47 compared to 347 deaths in week 46.