KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 19 — Malaysia recorded 14,954 new Covid-19 infections over the past 24 hours, dipping below the 15,000-case mark since July 26.

Malaysia last recorded 14,516 cases on July 26. The new cases were 594 fewer than yesterday’s 15,548.

Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said today’s figure pushed the cumulative total number of cases to 2,097,830 since the pandemic arrived in Malaysia.

Sarawak is still the state with the most cases at 2,707, followed by Selangor (2,028) and Johor (1,948).

Malaysians made up the majority of cases at 13,580 individuals, while the remaining 1,363 were foreigners.

In a statement later, Dr Noor Hisham revealed that there were 1,194 individuals requiring intensive care treatment, of which 882 were confirmed Covid-19 cases and the remaining 312 under investigation.

"Of the 1,194, a total of 665 require breathing assistance,” he said.

The number of recoveries also surpassed today’s figure at 23,469 people.

On the overall cases reported, Dr Noor Hisham said 243 or 1.6 per cent were of Categories 3, 4 and 5 patients.

Apart from that, another 19 new clusters were registered today — 13 were workplace clusters, four community clusters, one detention centre cluster and one high-risk cluster — for a combined total of 1,348 active clusters to date.

Dr Noor Hisham also said the nationwide Covid-19 infectivity rate — denoted as R-naught, R0 or Rt — was at 0.94, with Sarawak the highest at 1.08, followed by Pahang and Terengganu at 1.05, Johor and Perak tied at 1.01, Penang at 0.99 and Kelantan at 0.97.

All but Sabah, Perlis, Kedah, Melaka, Negri Sembilan, Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Labuan and Putrajaya surpassed that of the nationwide average.