ACTIVE Covid-19 cases in Malaysia saw its first increase in 18 days after the country reported more new infections than recoveries in the past 24 hours, said director-general of health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

Malaysia logged 5,841 fresh infections against 5,411 recoveries as of noon today, bringing the active cases to 61,162.

The last time Malaysia reported more new daily cases than recoveries was on June 6, where it recorded 6,241 infections to 5,133 recoveries. Active cases at the time stood at 86,628.

Active cases had plummeted by 25,812 until yesterday, and with today’s new cases, saw an increase of 346 infections.

Besides this, there were 84 deaths today, taking the national death toll to 4,721.

The fatalities have been on the rise for the past four days.

Malaysia has now surpassed China’s death count of 4,636.

On the positive side, the number of patients receiving treatment in intensive care units (ICU) dropped to 869 today, a reduction by 10 cases compared to yesterday.

However, the number of patients requiring respiratory support saw an increase by five, rising from 433 to 438 today.

Elaborating on the fatalities, Noor Hisham said 32 deaths were reported in Selangor, 10 each in Kuala Lumpur and Negri Sembilan, Kelantan (eight), Johor (seven), Kedah (six), Labuan (three), Malacca, Perak and Pahang (two each), and Sabah and Terengganu (one each). 

Of the deaths today, 11 were declared dead on arrival.

There were two victims aged 90, both women, who succumbed to the disease, making them the oldest fatalities of the day. 

One died in Kelantan and the other in Malacca. 

The youngest victim of the day was aged eight, a boy from Perak, who had asthma as his underlying medical condition. – June 24, 2021.