THE number of active Covid-19 cases continued to rise with 615 patients hospitalised, director-general of health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said today.

This number of active cases is the highest in three months. On June 16, 651 patients were warded in different stages of Covid-19 infection.

Malaysia reported 31 new infections in the last 24 hours, bringing the national infection tally to 9,946.

Only three of the new cases were imported while the remaining 28 were locally transmitted.

Sabah accounted for 25 of the new cases, 17 of which belonged to the Benteng Lahad Datu cluster.

Kedah, which has been continuously reporting new cases in the past few days, only saw one new infection today, linked to the Sungai cluster that was discovered at Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital.

Meanwhile, the Bunga cluster in Port Dickson, Negri Sembilan, which involved crew members of a ship, reported four new cases.

Nineteen of the 28 locally transmitted cases involved citizens while the remaining nine were foreigners.

Seven patients were discharged from the hospital in the past 24 hours after recovering from the coronavirus.

With this, total recoveries now stands at 9,203.

The national Covid-19 death toll remained at 128, with no new fatalities reported.

Eleven patients are currently warded at the intensive care unit, with five needing respiratory support. – September 14, 2020.