KUALA LUMPUR: The daily tally of new COVID-19 cases in the country increased slightly with 5,413 cases recorded over the past 24 hours compared to 5,143 cases recorded yesterday.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said of the total new cases, 5,311 cases or 98.1 per cent were in categories one and two while 102 or 1.9 per cent of these were in categories three, four or five.

He said 6,013 cases were recorded as having recovered from the viral infection, bringing the cumulative number to 2,461,780 and seven new clusters were detected, taking the number of active clusters to 252.

"A total of 545 cases are being treated in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) while 264 others required respiratory assistance," he said in a statement today.

Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham said as of Nov 13, namely the 45th epidemiological week (EW), a total of 2,541,147 cumulative cases of COVID-19 had been reported with 64,047 active cases and 29,631 cumulative deaths.

Dr Noor Hisham said most key indicators such as average active cases, death cases, and the rate of cases requiring treatment in the ICU were showing a declining trend, however, the infectivity rate or R-Naught (Rt) had recorded a daily increase since Nov 6.

"This situation remains worrying as the increase in new cases and Rt values from the previous week reflects the potential for transmission of COVID-19 infection to the community and consequently a higher risk of virus exposure," he said.

Apart from that, Dr Noor Hisham said workplace cluster which had previously shown a decline since the 37th EW, now started to increase again in the 45th EW in line with the interstate travel movements and the full opening of the economic sector by the government under Phase Four of the National Recovery Plan.

He said the education cluster also showed a significant increase compared to the previous week due to more states entering Phase Four which allows the reopening of schools.

Detailed information on the current situation of COVID-19 infection and transmission will be uploaded at https://covidnow.moh.gov.my and the data is updated at midnight daily.

-- BERNAMA