THE number of active Covid-19 cases reached a new high of 257,417 today, as Malaysia continues to report more new cases than recoveries, director-general of health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said.

This is the 56th straight day of new cases outnumbering recoveries.

There are also 1,062 patients currently being treated in intensive care, 518 of which require respiratory support.

Noor Hisham also said that 233 people died of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to 13,713.

Of the victims today, 199 were Malaysian and 34 were foreign.

By state, 101 died in Selangor, 31 in Kuala Lumpur, 23 in Johor, 17 in Sabah, 16 in Perak, 15 in Penang, 11 in Negri Sembilan, nine in Kedah, four in Terengganu, and three each in Kelantan and Pahang.

Sixty people were pronounced dead on arrival (DOA), 44 of which were Malaysians and 16 were foreign.

Meanwhile, Noor Hisham said 19,362 – or 82.2% – of the cases today were people who had not been vaccinated.

Of these, 9,531 were category 1 (asymptomatic), 9,463 in category 2 (mildly symptomatic) and 195 in category 3 (patients with pneumonia).

There were 65 cases in category 4 (patients require oxygen) and 108 in category 5 (critical condition and in need of ventilator support).

For cases of vaccinated people contracting the virus, 2,257 cases were category 1, followed by 1,882 in category 2, 41 in category 3, 12 category 4 cases and 10 in category 5. – August 20, 2021.