KUALA LUMPUR, March 5 — New Covid-19 infections in Malaysia continue to rise as 33,209 more cases were recorded over the past 24 hours.

However, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said that the percentage of severe infections remained below 1 per cent.

In a statement, he said that only 203 of the 33,209 cases recorded are in category 3, 4 and 5, a total of 0.61 per cent of the total cases today.

He added that 12,935 cases or 38.95 per cent were classified as category 1, while 20,071 or 60.44 per cent were classified in category 2.

Dr Noor Hisham said that of the 203 in category 3, 4 and 5, 43 did not take or have not completed their Covid-19 vaccination.

On those who are in need of intensive care, Dr Noor Hisham said there are 348 patients being treated in ICUs nationwide — of which 138 are confirmed to be a Covid-19 positive.

Of that, 211 require the assistance of ventilators to breathe, of which 80 of them are Covid-19 positive.

17 new Covid-19 clusters were also detected, bringing the number of active clusters in the country to 476.

The national infectivity rate currently stands at 1.02, with Sarawak holding the top spot for state with the highest rate of infection, at 1.41.

Kuala Lumpur’s rate of infection stands at 1.23, while Selangor’s is at 1.10.

As for Johor, which is in the midst of its state election, the rate of infection currently stands at 0.96.