KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 19 — The Health Ministry (MoH) announced that 5,745 new Covid-19 cases have been recorded in the past 24 hours, a slight increase from yesterday’s 5,434.

This is the second day that cases have been below the 6,000-mark, bringing the cumulative number of Covid-19 cases in the country to 2,401,866.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said that 152,478 Covid-19 tests were also done today, of which only 3.77 per cent returned positive.

Dr Noor Hisham said that only 115 of the 5,745 new cases, or 2 per cent, are in categories 3, 4 and 5 that require hospitalisation, while the remaining 5,630 or 98 per cent are in categories 1 and 2.

"There are currently 682 patients being treated in intensive care units (ICU), of which 609 are confirmed to have Covid-19 while 73 others are suspected, probable or under investigation for Covid-19.

"Of this, 331 need ventilators to help them breathe including 280 who are confirmed Covid-19 positive,” he said.

He added that eight new Covid-19 clusters have also been identified over the past 24 hours, bringing the number of active clusters to 634.

"All but one of the eight new clusters are related to workplaces, while the one remaining is from an educational institution,” he said.

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

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