COVID-19 recoveries continued to outnumber new infections once again, Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said, as Malaysia logged 9,231 recoveries against 6,145 new cases. 

This would be the 31st consecutive day where more people have recuperated from the coronavirus compared with the number of new infections. 

This is very likely to bring the number of active cases in the country lower, but the ministry will only update the figures in its CovidNow website after midnight.

The director-general of health said the cumulative recovery number now stands at 2,270,520. 

The 6,145 new cases reported today are the lowest since July 4, when 6,045 cases were logged. 

Noor Hisham said the number of patients treated in the intensive care unit (ICU) dropped to 682 from 695 yesterday.

Of them, 640 are confirmed Covid-19 cases while the remaining 42 are suspected cases and cases under investigation. 

There are 350 patients on ventilator support, of which 281 are Covid-19 cases and the rest being suspected and probable cases. 

On the breakdown of the new cases by categories, Noor Hisham said only 142 or 2.3% of today’s cases are in the more severe categories of 3, 4 and 5. 

The remaining 6,003 people or 97.7% of the cases are in the less severe asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic categories of 1 and 2. 

Noor Hisham also said the ministry identified nine new Covid-19 clusters as of noon today, which accounted for 246 cases. 

He said of the new clusters, six are linked to workplaces (175 cases), two are traced to the community (50 cases) and one involved a high-risk group (21 cases). 

Johor reported the highest number of clusters, at four – all linked to workplaces. 

Perak reported two clusters – one workplace and the other being the sole high-risk group cluster. 

Penang, Kelantan and Negri Sembilan reported one cluster each.

These bring the total number of clusters in the country to 5,672. Of them, 4,996 have ended and 676 are still active. – October 17, 2021.