PUTRAJAYA: The health ministry has reported a record high 1,228 Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours.
Sabah again accounted for the highest number of cases, with 889 cases.
This is the highest number of infections in a day since the pandemic first struck Malaysia. The previous record high was 871 cases reported on Oct 18.
Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the new cases bring the total number of infections in the country to 25,742.
In a press conference, he said there were 671 recoveries, bringing the total number of those discharged to 16,555. The bulk of these recoveries, a total of 449, came from Sabah.
The health ministry also reported seven deaths, which brings the toll to 221.
A total of 8,966 people are still being treated, with 92 of them in the intensive care unit and 31 requiring respiratory assistance.
Of the new cases, 1,217 are local infections while 11 are imported.
Noor Hisham said 500 cases in Sabah alone came from clusters. The rest came from the screening of close contacts of positive cases and other screenings.
The other states which recorded cases were Negeri Sembilan (96), Selangor (76), Kedah (76), Penang (23), Labuan (21), Perak (10), Sarawak (8), KL (8), Johor (7) and Melaka (3).
Most of these cases came from existing clusters and screening of close contacts of positive cases.
The 11 imported cases involved three Malaysians and eight foreigners who arrived in Malaysia from Singapore, Indonesia, China and UAE.
