KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 21 ― After a new record high of 23,564 daily Covid-19 cases yesterday, Malaysia registered a slight dip to 22,262 today.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said Selangor still tops the list with 7,011 cases, followed by Sabah (2,651), Sarawak (1,964), Kedah (1,880), Johor (1,558), Penang (1,459) and Kuala Lumpur (1,220), to name a few.

Two other states recorded a two-digit increase, namely Putrajaya (41) and Perlis (38), while Labuan only recorded nine new cases.

This also brings Malaysia’s cumulative Covid-19 cases to 1,535,286.

Malaysia also recorded 223 Covid-19 related fatalities over the last 24 hours, on top of having more than half of those admitted in Intensive Care Units (ICU) currently intubated.

The 223 people who died comprised 199 Malaysians and 24 non-Malaysians, 118 of whom were men and 105 were women. Those with a history of illnesses numbered 171.

Of the 223 fatalities, a total of 35 people or 16 per cent were brought in dead.

A majority of today’s deaths were reported in Selangor with 77 fatalities while Putrajaya recorded the least deaths at one.

In a statement later, Dr Noor Hisham said today’s figure meant that Malaysia’s cumulative Covid-19 death toll stood at 13,936.

He also revealed that there are 1,035 individuals currently warded in ICU, with 513 of them requiring breathing assistance out of 260,880 active cases to date.

Dr Noor Hisham also disclosed that asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic cases made up the majority of infections recorded, at 97.9 per cent or 19,606 cases.

Out of the 22,262 recorded,10,990 were from Category 1 (asymptomatic) and 10,803 were from Category 2 (mild symptoms).

The remaining Category 3 (Covid-19 patients with pneumonia), Category 4 (those with pneumonia and in need of oxygen assistance) and Category 5 (patients in critical condition and needing breathing assistance) made up a total of 469 cases.

Dr Noor Hisham also said the nationwide Covid-19 infectivity rate — denoted as R-naught, R0 or Rt — was at 1.04, with Perlis the highest at 1.38 followed by Sarawak at 1.31, Sabah at 1.23, Penang at 1.16, Kelantan at 1.14, Perak at 1.11, Kedah at 1.10 and two other states Johor and Pahang tied at 1.05.

All but Kuala Lumpur, Negri Sembilan, Selangor, Labuan and Putrajaya were more than that of the nationwide average.