KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 26 — The Ministry of Health logged 5,726 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours.

The latest numbers represented an increase of 944 cases compared to the new infections recorded yesterday.

This brings the total number of Covid-19 cases in the country, since the start of the pandemic, to 2,442,224.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah also disclosed that that only 97 or 1.7 per cent of the cases reported today were in categories 3, 4 and 5 that required hospitalisation, while the remaining 98.3 per cent were in categories 1 and 2.

"There are currently 598 patients being treated in intensive care units (ICU), of which 89 are suspected, probable or under investigation for Covid-19.

"Out of these 598, 308 need ventilators to help them breathe including 219 who are confirmed to be positive for Covid-19,” he said.

He added that seven new clusters were also detected over the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of active clusters in the country to 506.

"Of the seven new clusters, five was related to workplaces, one each were found spreading within a community and an education centre,” he said.

He said that Malaysia’s rate of infection currently stands at 0.89, with Kuala Lumpur and Negri Sembilan being the states with the highest infectivity rate, which stands at 0.99.

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