KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 13 — The Ministry of Health (MoH) reported 3,504 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours as of noon, making it two consecutive days the number of new transmissions has stayed below 4,000 since May this year.

The cumulative number of positive cases now stands at 2.65 million. Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah announced the figures on Twitter this evening.

Yesterday, the ministry said it recorded 3,490 new Covid-19 cases, the lowest since May 4 and the first time daily cases have fallen below 4,000 cases since May 16.

The sharp dip in new cases underscored the success of the country’s vaccination drive, with nearly 80 per cent of total population having been inoculated since public health authorities ramped up efforts in the third quarter.

The low daily cases also coincided with lower mortality rates.

This morning, just 17 Covid-19 deaths were reported over the last 24-hours, including three people who died before being brought to the hospital.

Still, the coronavirus has killed up to 30,879 people in Malaysia to date.

The national death rate now stands at 13 deaths per one million people, based on data from the past two weeks.

In the same period, Terengganu had the highest death rate of 39 deaths per million people, followed by Perlis with 24, and Perak with 20.

The rate of intensive care unit admissions and utilisation have also dropped as vaccination level rises.

As of 6pm the overall ICU utilisation rate was 60.6 per cent, with 37.3 per cent of it being for Covid-19 treatment.

Patients requiring ventilators were at 38.4 per cent or 216 active cases.

The mortality rate has trended downward by 11 per cent nationally in the last two weeks.