KUALA LUMPUR, July 1 ― The Ministry of Health (MoH) announced 6,988 new Covid-19 cases in the country over the past 24-hour period.

This means Malaysia has recorded more than 6,000 daily cases for three consecutive days, with new infections numbering 6,276 the previous day.

In terms of states and Federal Territories, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said Selangor topped the list once more with 2,885 new cases, followed by Kuala Lumpur (988) and Negri Sembilan (692).

In a statement today, he said the lowest number of cases was detected in Terengganu (50), Putrajaya (10) and Perlis (one).

Only five of today’s cases were imported, while the remaining 6,983 cases were due to local transmissions.

Malaysians comprised 75.5 per cent, or 5,271 of today’s cases.

Another 84 people died due to the disease today, the youngest of whom was a 23-year-old Malaysian male with no prior history of illness.

The oldest people who died were a 90-year-old Malaysian man who suffered from diabetes, hypertension and stroke, along with a Malaysian woman of the same age who had no prior history of illness.

Meanwhile, 5,580 Covid-19 patients recovered today. Active cases are currently at 65,453.

A total of 917 people are warded in intensive care units (ICUs) nationwide, with 445 needing breathing assistance.

The latest recovery rate from Covid-19 in Malaysia is 90.7 per cent, while the death rate is 0.69 per cent.

Dr Noor Hisham also noted that between June 23 and yesterday, 25 cases involving Variants of Concern (VOC) and three cases involving Variants of Interest (VOI) were detected in Malaysia.

This comprised 18 cases of the Delta (B.1.617.2) variant, five cases of the Beta (B.1.351) variant, three cases of the Kappa (B.1.617.1) variant, and two cases of the Alpha (B.1.1.7) variant.

These were found across Pahang, Kuala Lumpur, Sabah, Melaka, Labuan, Negri Sembilan, Johor, Kedah, Terengganu and Selangor.

Cumulatively, the number of VOCs detected in Malaysia since the start of the pandemic is 198, while the number of VOIs is 19.

Furthermore, a total of 21 new clusters were identified, 11 of which were classified as “workplace” clusters, nine “community” clusters and one “high-risk group” cluster.

This makes 887 currently active Covid-19 clusters nationwide.