PETALING JAYA: Covid-19 daily cases and deaths reached new record highs since the start of the pandemic with 24,599 cases and 393 deaths reported yesterday, says the Health Ministry.

       Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said even though the daily figure recorded in the latest 24-hour span was the highest in the country, 23,939 cases (97.3%) were in Categories One and Two.

       He added that 660 cases were in Categories Three, Four and Five.

       “This is in line with the vaccination programme that is being carried out throughout the country.

       “As at Aug 25, 40.8% of the total population, or 56.9% of the total adult population, in the country have received the vaccine (fully).

       “In total, 19,761 cases (80.3%) recorded today (yesterday) did not receive the vaccine or had not completed their vaccination,” he said.

       Of the 393 deaths recorded yesterday, Dr Noor Hisham said 125 cases were from Selangor, 61 in Kuala Lumpur and 48 in Johor.

       This was followed by Melaka (33), Penang (31), Sabah (26), Negri Sembilan (20), Kedah (15), Perak (15), Kelantan (nine), Pahang (eight), and Terengganu (two).

       There were also 100 brought-in-dead cases with half of them being Malaysians.

       Dr Noor Hisham noted that the country also saw the highest number of recoveries in the past month, at 22,657 cases.

       The cumulative recoveries to date are 1,359,791 while the cumulative Covid-19 cases number 1,640,843.

       Active Covid-19 infections now stand at 265,841 cases.

       Currently, 990 patients are in intensive care, with 487 of them requiring ventilator support.

       The infectivity rate of the country as at Aug 25 was 1.02, with the highest infectivity rate recorded in Sarawak and Perlis at 1.22 while in Sabah, it was 1.21 and in Penang, 1.12.