KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 18 — The Ministry of Health (MoH) logged 5,434 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours.

The latest numbers showed a fall of 711 cases compared to the 6,145 new infections recorded yesterday.

This brings the total number of Covid-19 cases in the country, since the start of the pandemic, to 2,396,121.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah also disclosed that that only 151 or 2.8 per cent of the cases reported today were in categories 3, 4 and 5 that required hospitalisation, while the remaining 97.2 per cent were in categories 1 and 2.

"There are currently 682 patients being treated in intensive care units (ICU), of which 60 are suspected, probable or under investigation for Covid-19.

"Out of these 682, 357 need ventilators to help them breathe including 286 who are confirmed to be positive for Covid-19,” he said.

He added that 15 new clusters were also detected over the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of active clusters in the country to 656.

"Of the 15 new clusters, nine are related to workplaces, two each are from community transmissions and education centres, as well as one each involving a high-risk group and a religious community,” he said.

He said that Malaysia’s rate of infection currently stands at 0.88, with Putrajaya being the state with the highest infectivity rate, which stands at 1.04.

Labuan was the only state or federal territory in Malaysia to have a 0 infectivity rate.