ACTIVE Covid-19 cases inched closer to the 50,000 mark today with 4,571 new infections reported over 24 hours.

Director-general of health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said active infections now numbered 48,771 in the country.

He said 308 patients were in intensive care, 135 intubated.

Among the new cases, 4,568 were local transmissions.

Locals made up 3,177 of the local transmissions as well as the three imported cases.

Seventeen people died in the last 24 hours, 15 of them Malaysian.

Four of the deaths were in Selangor, three each in Sabah and Sarawak, two each in Johor and Pahang, and one each in Kelantan, Malacca and Negri Sembilan. 

Nine of the local victims had underlying medical conditions, while the medical history of the two foreigners who died was unknown. 

The death toll now stands at 826.

A total of 4,092 patients recovered today, taking the total number of recoveries to 181,886. – February 4, 2021.