KUALA LUMPUR: The number of COVID-19 patients in Malaysia who have recovered within the last 24 hours is 20,980, which is higher than the number of new cases reported for the same period, said Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

He said the latest developments brought the cumulative number of individuals in the country who have recovered from COVID-19 to 1,721,713.

Dr Noor Hisham said there were 1,298 cases being treated in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), comprising 960 COVID-19 confirmed cases with another 338 suspected cases and under investigation.

"A total of 744 cases require respiratory assistance, involving 444 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 300 suspected cases and under investigation," he said in a statement, today.

In an infographic of new case data shared earlier, he said 19,198 new cases were reported today, bringing the total number of cases nationwide to 1,979,698.

Detailing the new cases today, Dr Noor Hisham said that only 253 of them (or 1.3 per cent) were in categories 3, 4, and 5, while the other 18,945 cases (or 98.7 per cent) were in categories 1 and 2.

Data on deaths will be uploaded and displayed on the Ministry of Health (MOH) COVIDNOW website at midnight tonight.

Meanwhile, there were 34 new clusters detected today, comprising 17 workplace clusters, 14 community clusters, two high-risk group clusters and one religious cluster.

-- BERNAMA