A TOTAL of 28,298 new Covid-19 cases were recorded yesterday, the fifth consecutive day Malaysia has registered fewer than 30,000 cases.

However, yesterday’s cases were slightly higher than the previous day’s 22,030.

According to the Health Ministry’s data on its CovidNow website, the latest figure brings the cumulative number of infections since the onset of the pandemic to 3,900,433.

The number of deaths reported yesterday has increased from 95 the day before to 105, with 29 patients dead on arrival.

The ministry has explained that all the deaths reported for a day took place within a single day, but are reported by medical facilities to the ministry within 72 hours.

The death toll is now at 34,099.

On the breakdown of new infections yesterday, Selangor again reported the highest number of cases at 7,651, followed by Kuala Lumpur (3,565) and Johor (2,577).

Other states and territories reporting new cases were Penang (2,441), Kedah (2,034), Negeri Sembilan (1,908), Sarawak (1,555), Perak (1,446), Pahang (1,302), Kelantan (995), Terengganu (934), Malacca (727), Sabah (708), Perlis (159), Putrajaya (180) and Labuan (146).

Perak meanwhile recorded the highest number of deaths, at 21, of which two were dead on arrival.

Kedah recorded 17 deaths, followed by Johor (13), Selangor (12), Pahang (7), Kuala Lumpur (7), Sabah (5), Malacca (5), Penang (4), Negeri Sembilan (3), Sarawak (3), Terengganu (3), Perlis (2), Kelantan (2), and Putrajaya (1).

No Covid-linked deaths were reported in Labuan.

As of midnight, there were 299,331 active cases. Of this number, 374 were in intensive care units, with 233 requiring respiratory support.

There were also 33,009 recoveries. – March 17, 2022.