KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 1 — Malaysia’s latest Covid-19 cases went down a little today, registering at 18,762 nationwide.

Selangor still has the most infections at 3,711 but the Borneo states appear to be gaining ground.

Sabah recorded 2,430 cases today, and Sarawak 2,414 cases, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah tweeted.

Other states that recorded four figures in the daily infection rate include Johor at 1,993 cases, followed by Penang (1,762), Kedah (1,585), and Kelantan (1,504).

A total of 1,765,016 cases overall have been reported in the country since the outbreak last year.

As for other states, Perak recorded 899 cases, followed by Pahang with 715 cases, Kuala Lumpur (573), Terengganu (506), Melaka (309), Negri Sembilan (291), Putrajaya (34), Perlis (33), and Labuan (three).

Dr Noor Hisham said that 278 lives were lost to Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, pushing the cumulative number of fatalities to 16,942 since the pandemic began last year.

He added that 1,007 patients are currently being treated in intensive care units (ICU) for the virus.

Out of the total number of patients in critical condition, 464 cases require breathing assistance.

The national infectivity rate stands at Rt 1.02, with Sarawak topping the list at Rt 1.20. It was followed by Perlis at Rt 1.19 and Sabah at Rt 1.11.

Dr Noor Hisham also announced 42 new Covid-19 clusters. Twenty-two were from workplaces, 17 from within the general community, one each from religious community, education centre and detention centre.

He added that the clusters with the highest increase in new cases today were the Sawit Kinabatangan 2 cluster (124 cases), the Tapak Bina Cenderasari cluster and the Kampung Alor Lek cluster (87 cases each).