KUALA LUMPUR, April 3 — Malaysia recorded 14,692 more new Covid-19 positive cases in the last 24 hours, a decrease of 3,561 cases from the previous day.

This brings the cumulative infections to 4,234,087 from the time Covid-19 arrived in the country in 2020, Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a statement today.

Of the 14,692 new cases reported, 99.46 per cent or 14,613 comprised patients under Categories 1 and 2 while the remaining 0.54 per cent or 79 cases were of Category 3 and above.

"Of the 79 reported, 19 cases or 24.06 per cent are unvaccinated, have incomplete vaccinations or unboosted,” he said.

Those who recovered stood at 20,383, bringing the cumulative recovered cases to 3,997,786.

Covid-19 fatalities reported yesterday showed a total of 56 deaths, with 11 brought-in-dead.

As of today, a total 35,069 people have died of the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic.

The number of active cases stands at 201,232.

Infections by state

Selangor recorded the highest number of infections at 8,573 cases, followed by Kuala Lumpur at 1,306, Johor at 646 and Perak at 546.

Perlis recorded the lowest number of cases at 45.

Hospitalisation

Dr Noor Hisham also disclosed that 261 cases required intensive care units (ICU) admission, of which 124 are suspected, probable or under investigation for Covid-19.

"Out of these 261, 153 need ventilators to help them breathe, including 64 who are confirmed as Covid-19 positive,” he said.

In his statement, Dr Noor Hisham said only one state is currently using more than 50 per cent of their ICU bed capacity which is Kuala Lumpur (67 per cent).

There are also two with over 50 per cent of non-ICU beds used for Covid-19 patients with Putrajaya at 81 per cent and Selangor at 59 per cent.

The nationwide Covid-19 infectivity rate — denoted as R-naught, R0 or the effective rate of Rt — is at 0.85.

Only Selangor and Melaka are currently above the national rate with Selangor the highest at 1.06.

Sabah recorded the lowest value at 0.68.