PETALING JAYA: Covid-19 has claimed another 257 lives on Wednesday (Aug 4), a new daily record, involving 226 Malaysians and 31 foreigners. This brings the overall death toll to 9,855.

       Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said that of the latest deaths, Selangor recorded 91, Kuala Lumpur (74), Johor (25), Melaka (24), Perak (9), Negri Sembilan (9), Kedah (8), Sabah (6), Terengganu (4), Penang (3), Kelantan (3) and Pehang (1).

       There were 21 brought-in-dead cases recorded - Selangor (8), Kuala Lumpur (5), (Sabah (4) and two each in Johor and Perak.

       Dr Noor Hisham said the overall Covid-19 infectivity rate (Rt) now stands at 1.07, with most states recording Rt values of over 1.0 except for Perlis, Negri Sembilan and Labuan.

       Kelantan topped the list with the highest Rt value at 1.31, followed by Terengganu at 1.27, Perak at 1.24, and Sabah and Penang, where each recorded 1.17.

       Other states that recorded Rt values of over 1.0 are Kedah (1.16), Johor (1.14), Pahang (1.14), Kuala Lumpur (1.12), Putrajaya (1.11), Melaka (1.08), Sarawak (1.08) and Selangor (1.06).

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

       Dr Noor Hisham noted that more than 98% of the 19,819 new Covid-19 cases reported Wednesday were either asymptomatic or only had mild symptoms.

       "There were 10,001 cases, or 50.6%, classified as Category 1 (asymptomatic), and 9,159 (91.6%) of them had no history of vaccination.

       "There are 9,443 cases (47.6%) in Category 2 (mild symptoms), and 6,772 (71.7%) of them were not vaccinated.

       "A total of 180 cases or 0.9% were classified as Category 3, meaning they are experiencing lung inflammation; and 108 cases (0.5%) were in Category 4, which means they have lung inflammation and need oxygen.

       "Eighty-seven cases or 0.4% were in Category 5, the critical stage and requiring ventilator support," he said in his daily Covid-19 briefing on Wednesday (Aug 4).

       Of the new cases, 23 were imported involving nine Malaysians and 14 foreigners.

       This means there were 19,796 local infections and 3,026 were foreigners.

       At present, 1,069 patients are being treated at the intensive care unit, with 553 on ventilator support.

       The current total of active cases in the community has risen to 210,522, while Malaysia's total cumulative cases is now 1,183,110.

       There were 12,704 recoveries recorded nationwide and our recovery rate is now at 81.4%.

       The ministry also identified 35 new Covid-19 clusters nationwide, bringing the total active clusters in the country to 1,161 nationwide.

       Clusters involving outbreaks in the community have increased to 20, while there were 14 clusters at the workplace and one involving a place of worship.

       Selangor has the most number of clusters at 414, followed by 349 in Kelantan, Kuala Lumpur (262), Perak (175) and Johor (162).

       Selangor still recorded the highest daily number with 8,377 cases, followed by Kuala Lumpur (2,467), Kedah (1,371), Johor (1,162), Kelantan (1,003) and Sabah (949).

       Three states that recorded the fewest cases were Labuan (5), Perlis (11) and Putrajaya (46).