THE number of active Covid-19 cases in the country reduced to 262,540 today after it reported a record 23,473 recoveries against 20,988 new cases, Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said.

The director-general of health also said that the number of patients in the ICU dropped slightly from 1,007 yesterday to 1,001 today.

He said there were 470 patients who required respiratory support today, a slight increase from yesterday’s 464.

Meanwhile, Noor Hisham said Malaysia reported 249 deaths today, taking the total number of fatalities to 17,191.

He said 198 of them were Malaysians and 51 were foreigners.

He added that 80 cases today were dead-on-arrival (DOA) cases.

Noor Hisham said Selangor reported 61 deaths, Johor (40), Penang (39), Sabah (33), Kedah and Kuala Lumpur (16 each), Malacca (13), Perak (nine), Sarawak (eight), Kelantan (six), Negri Sembilan (four), Terengganu (three), and Perlis (one).

A total of 184 of the total victims today had underlying medical conditions.

As for the number of clusters, Noor Hisham said there were 31 new clusters reported today, taking the total in the country to 4,804.

He said that of the new clusters, 17 were linked to workplaces, nine traced to the community, four at high-risk groups and one at an educational institution.

Noor Hisham said 793 cases stemmed from the 17 workplace clusters, while 198 were reported from the nine community clusters, 133 cases from high-risk groups and 45 cases at the educational institution. – September 2, 2021.