ACTIVE Covid-19 cases in Malaysia reached a new high of 255,534 today after the country once again reported more new cases than recoveries, Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said.

The health director-general said Malaysia reported 22,948 new infections and 21,720 recoveries as of noon today, record numbers for both categories.

This will be the 55th straight day that new cases have outnumbered recoveries.

Of those active cases, a total of 1,060 patients are in intensive care units while 528 require respiratory support.

Meanwhile, for the 25th consecutive day, Malaysia has reported deaths in the triple digits with 178 fatalities recorded today, taking the nation’s death toll to 13,480.

Noor Hisham said that of the deaths reported today, 155 involved locals and 23 were foreigners.

States reporting deaths were Selangor with 65, Johor (36), Kuala Lumpur (23), Sabah (11), Penang, Pahang and Malacca (eight each), Kelantan (five), Negri Sembilan, Sarawak and Terengganu (four each), Kedah and Perak (one each).

Noor Hisham added that of the total fatalities today, 35 were pronounced dead on arrival (DOA), where 26 were Malaysians and nine were foreigners.
 
The states reporting DOA cases were Selangor with 16 cases, Sabah (five), Johor and Kuala Lumpur (four each), Negri Sembilan (two), Penang, Malacca, Pahang and Terengganu (one each).
 
Meanwhile, elaborating on the new cases today, Noor Hisham said a total of 17,981 or 78.4% of the positive cases today involved those not vaccinated.
 
Of these, 9,068 were cases in Category 1 (asymptomatic), 8,528 in Category 2 (mildly symptomatic) and 164 in Category 3 (patients with pneumonia). 

As for the advanced stages of infection, there were 65 cases in Category 4 (patients require oxygen) and 156 in Category 5 (critical condition and in need of ventilator support).
 
As for those who have been vaccinated, there were 2,532 cases in Category 1 and 2,372 in Category 2.
 
Thirty-one of them were critically ill in Category 5, while there were 12 cases in Category 4 and 29 in Category 3. – August 19, 2021.