DAILY Covid-19 infections declined for the second straight day with the nation reporting 3,455 new cases in the last 24 hours, said Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

However, the health director-general of health said in the same period, the country reported a record 21 fatalities, taking the death toll just nine shy of 800.

Noor Hisham said of the fatalities, 20 were Malaysians and one was a foreigner.

Of the new cases reported today, 3,450 cases were local transmissions and five were imported.

“Of the 3,450 local transmissions, 2,068 were locals and 1,382 were foreigners.

“As for the five imported cases, three involved Malaysians and two were foreigners,” Noor Hisham said in a statement today.

Selangor once again reported the highest cases by state with 1,145 infections, followed by Johor with 708 and Kuala Lumpur with 619. 

Selangor surpassed the 70,000 mark today with the new cases reported. 

They have now reported 70,441 cases, followed by Sabah with 49,420 and Kuala Lumpur with 26,922.

Selangor, Johor and Kuala Lumpur have occupied the top three spots in terms of cases reported by state for four consecutive days.  

Besides new cases, Malaysia today reported 3,661 recoveries, taking the total to 173,990.  

The number of active cases in the country is now at 47,847.

A total of 327 are being treated in intensive care, with 145 requiring respiratory support. 

Elaborating on the deaths today, 12 fatalities were reported in Selangor, four in Sabah, two each in Johor and Kuala Lumpur and one in Kedah.  

Thirteen of the victims were male and eight were female, including the sole foreigner.  

All except for one victim had underlying medical conditions, with diabetes and high blood pressure being the common ailments among most of them.  

The oldest victim today was aged 83, who succumbed to the illness in Selangor, while the youngest was aged 36, who had high blood pressure, diabetes, chronic kidney and heart issues, also died in Selangor. 

Prior to today’s record death, Malaysia’s previous high was 18 fatalities, reported on January 22. – February 2, 2021.