PETALING JAYA: For two weeks straight, Malaysia’s Covid-19 daily cases have remained below 10,000, with 7,509 new infections recorded yesterday, bringing the cumulative number to 2,384,542.

       Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said 98.5% of the new cases were asymptomatic (Category 1) and those with mild symptoms (Category 2).

       “Only 1.5% (116 cases) are under Categories 3, 4 and 5. Of the total new cases, 16 were imported, comprising eight locals and eight foreigners.

       “The remaining 7,493 were locally transmitted with 93% (6,967) of them locals,” he said in a statement.

       Dr Noor Hisham said 695 patients were being treated in intensive care units with 65 suspected to be Covid-19 cases.

       Currently, 347 patients needed ventilator support with 66 classified as probable Covid-19 cases.

       Malaysia’s infectivity rate stood at 0.87, with all states recording values below 1.0 except Putrajaya (1.04) and Negri Sembilan (1.03).

       Dr Noor Hisham said nine new clusters were detected yesterday, bringing the accumulative number to 702.

       Of the new clusters, four involved workplaces while three were linked to the education sector.

       Recoveries continued to outpace new infections with 9,531 people discharged.

       Malaysia’s recovery rate now stood at 94.8%, with a cumulative 2,261,289 recoveries since the pandemic began.