KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 24 ― Malaysia has logged 3,528 new Covid-19 infections today on Christmas eve, a slight uptick in cases recorded the previous day.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah in a Twitter post said this brings the total number of cases reported since the start of the pandemic to 2,735,241.

Today’s cases are 18 more than the 3,510 recorded yesterday.

As for Covid-19 infections among flood victims, Dr Noor Hisham said a total of 405 out of 53,696 have been infected so far.

"A total of 324 people were also afflicted with infectious diseases such as skin infections, conjunctivitis, acute gastroenteritis and acute respiratory infections commonly associated with floods,” he said.

In his daily statement, Dr Noor Hisham revealed that there were 339 individuals requiring intensive care treatment, of which 261 were confirmed Covid-19 cases and the remaining 78 under investigation.

"Of the 339, a total of 180 require breathing assistance,” he said.

The number of recoveries also surpassed today’s figure at 4,489 people.

On the overall cases reported, Dr Noor Hisham said 66 or 1.9 per cent were of Categories 3, 4 and 5 patients.

Today’s infection involved 3,247 Malaysians with 178 cases detected among non-locals, and 103 more imported cases.

Apart from that, another four new clusters were registered today for a combined total of 229 active clusters to date.

Dr Noor Hisham also said the nationwide Covid-19 infectivity rate — denoted as R-naught, R0 or Rt — was at 0.9, with Terengganu the highest at 1.19, followed by Kedah at 0.99, Johor at 0.96, Kuala Lumpur, Perak, Penang and Putrajaya at 0.94 and Selangor at 0.90.