KUALA LUMPUR, May 2 — Active Covid-19 cases breached the 30,000 mark today as the country reported 3,418 more daily infections, reaching a high last seen on February 24 when most major states were still locked down by the second movement control order.

The Ministry of Health also reported the highest number of severe Covid-19 cases today, with 345 people needing intensive care and 175 requiring ventilator support.

More than 1,500 people have died from the disease including the 12 new deaths reported today.

Daily Covid-19 numbers rose above the 3,000-case mark again today, with Selangor accounting for over one in three new infections, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah announced earlier.

The cumulative cases now stood at 415,012. Selangor, the state often contributing the highest number of cases since the rate of daily infection spiked to over 2,000, reported 1,200 cases as of noon.

Public health authorities have raised the alarm over the effects a sharp resurgence of daily cases have had on the healthcare system, which could reach breaking point if the infection rate continues to rise in the next few days.

The MOH said today the number of critical patients has risen by 62 per cent in just two weeks, causing the intensive care units of most major hospitals to be overwhelmed.

In six of the hospitals within the Klang Valley — Hospital Kuala Lumpur, Hospital Sungai Buloh, Hospital Ampang, Hospital Serdang, Hospital Selayang and Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Klang — over 70 per cent of ICU beds have been taken up, the ministry tweeted this evening.

"The healthcare capacity in the Klang Valley (Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya) is at a worrying level,” it tweeted this evening.

Malaysia is facing what some experts believe to be a "fourth wave” of the pandemic, with the recent number of daily cases nearly reaching the 4,000 mark.

Dr Noor Hisham warned yesterday that ICUs in Klang Valley hospitals were once again nearing capacity following the resurgence of Covid-19 cases shortly after movement restrictions were relaxed.