PETALING JAYA: Malaysia marked a grim milestone with 26 deaths from Covid-19 reported yesterday, the highest in a single day, bringing the cumulative death toll to 1,683.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said there were 416 cases currently being treated in intensive care units, with 216 cases requiring ventilator aid.
The 26 deaths comprised seven cases in Selangor, six in Kuala Lumpur, four in Johor, three each in Kelantan and Pahang, two in Penang, and one in Sarawak.
Those who died were between the ages of 46 and 90, and most of them had pre-existing medical conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, kidney disease or cancer.
The previous highest daily death toll was on Feb 3 when 21 deaths were reported.
Dr Noor Hisham said there were 3,733 new cases, bringing the total number of Covid-19 cases since the outbreak began last year to 440,677.
Out of the 3,733 cases, six were imported cases while local cases stood at 3,727, he said yesterday.
He added that Selangor continues to have the highest number of cases at 1,278, followed by Sarawak (454), Johor (365), Kuala Lumpur (338) and Penang (280).
He also said 13 new clusters have been identified, of which five were linked to workplaces and five were community outbreaks.
In Muar, a workplace cluster at Kawasan Industri Dua had 100 positive cases after 124 individuals were screened.
Dr Noor Hisham also said there were 37,060 active cases currently being treated at quarantine centres and hospitals across the country.
There were 3,211 recoveries, bringing the cumulative number of recoveries to 401,934, with a recovery rate of 91.2%, he added.