KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 7 — After two consecutive days of setting new record highs for daily Covid-19 infections over 20,000, cases today fell slightly to 19,257.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah revealed that the latest tally brings the cumulative number of infections recorded in Malaysia since the beginning of the pandemic to 1,243,852 cases.

Selangor continues to contribute the highest number of cases among the states and Federal Territories of Malaysia, although its number dropped slightly compared to yesterday, to 7,084.

This was followed by Kuala Lumpur (2,450), Kedah (1,514), Sabah (1,255), and Johor (1,182).

All other states recorded fewer than 1,000 cases, including Penang (959), Kelantan (930), Negri Sembilan (884), Perak (774), Pahang (714), Sarawak (573), Terengganu (425) and Melaka (414).

The three lowest number of cases were detected in Putrajaya, Perlis, and Labuan that reported 56, 41, and two cases, respectively.

Today marked a significant rise in the number of cases for Perlis, which rose from nine cases yesterday. 

In past months, the northernmost state of the peninsula had regularly been at the bottom of the list of cases by state, often with no cases recorded.

Despite this, no explanation was given regarding the rise, neither were any new clusters attributed to the state either today or yesterday.

Furthermore, the infectivity rate of the state — denoted by the term R-naught or Rt — is still recorded as zero, the same as Putrajaya.

The country’s average R-naught is currently 1.09.

States with an R-naught above the nationwide average are Kelantan (1.28), Terengganu (1.19), Sabah (1.19), Perak (1.18), Penang (1.18), Kedah (1.15), Johor (1.14), Kuala Lumpur (1.10) and Putrajaya (1.10).

Dr Noor Hisham added that there were 36 new Covid-19 clusters today, comprising 18 from workplaces, 15 from within the general community, one from a government educational institution, one relating to religious activity, and one involving a detention centre.

The largest new cluster today is the Kundang Sepertiga Industrial cluster, which has 148 recorded Covid-19 cases after 263 people were screened. 

He said there are currently 1,197 clusters still active from the 3,899 cumulative clusters detected in the country from when the pandemic struck.