.jpg "A health worker collects swab samples to test for Covid-19 at the MBPJ community hall in Taman Medan, Petaling Jaya May 24, 2021. u00e2u20acu201d Picture by Choo Choy May")
KUALA LUMPUR, May 25 — The Health Ministry announced today 7,289 new Covid-19 infections over the past 24 hours.
Daily cases have been above the 6,000-mark for the past seven consecutive days, with the infection rate today breaching the 7,000-mark, bringing the cumulative cases to 525,889 since the pandemic arrived in Malaysia.
Among all states, Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said that Selangor continues topping the list with the highest cases recorded today at 2,642, followed by Johor (664), and Kuala Lumpur (604).
Sarawak was the next with 513 cases, ahead of Kelantan (425), Negri Sembilan (410), Penang (380), Kedah (336 each), Terengganu (268), Sabah (266), Melaka (258), Perak (218), Pahang (211), Labuan (63), Putrajaya (23), and Perlis (eight).
Recoveries lagged far behind new cases today, with just 3,789 former patients discharged, causing active cases to climb to the highest ever level of 63,458.
Dr Noor Hisham also reported 15 more Covid-19 clusters including 10 from workplaces, four from within the general community, and one from a religious centre.
The number of Covid-19 clusters still considered active is 577.
He also confirmed that the Institute Medical Research (IMR) has discovered another 13 cases involving variants of concern (VOC) from South Africa and India.
VOCs are a worrying development in the Covid-19 pandemic as they are more infectious, cause more severe symptoms in younger patients, and harder to detect with current tests
“To date, the total number of Covid-19 cases infected with South African variant B.1.351 is 78 cases and Indian variant B.1.671 (including sublineage B.1.617.1 and B.1.617.2) is six (6) cases,” Dr Noor Hisham said in a statement.
