KUALA LUMPUR: The number of new COVID-19 positive cases in the country in the past 24 hours dropped to 5,293 compared to 5,911 yesterday, said Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

This brings the cumulative figure for positive cases to 696,408, he said in his tweet.

Selangor continued to top the daily case list with 1,680, followed by Negeri Sembilan (693), Sarawak (661), Johor (627) and Kuala Lumpur (379).

Perak had 205 cases, Melaka (183), Kedah (170), Kelantan (167), Sabah (163), Labuan (156), Penang (114), Pahang (77),Terengganu (12), Putrajaya (four) dan Perlis (two)

Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham said in a statement that of the new cases, 5,286 involved local transmissions and seven were imported cases, while the total number of active cases currently stood at 63,815.

He said the number of recoveries - 5,941 - again exceeded the number of new cases, with the total number of recoveries now at 628,185.

A total of 60 fatalities were recorded today, taking the death toll to 4,408.

"The fatalities today involved 56 Malaysians and four foreigners aged between 28 and 89, with a majority of them having chronic diseases," he said.

In the meantime, the Ministry of Health (MOH) detected 19 new clusters, with 11 related to workplaces, five in the community, two among high-risk groups and one involving a detention centre in Tembok Sungai Udang 2 in Melaka.

The workplace-linked clusters were in Industri Lebut Satu, Industri Solok Waja, Industri Meranti Dua, Olak Lempit Industrial construction site and Persiaran Hamidiah construction site in Selangor as well as in Indera Mahkota and Lorong Empat Jerantut in Pahang.

The other workplace-related clusters included the Jalan Seri Tanjung Pinang construction site in Penang; Kampung Kubang Panjang in Kelantan; Industri Lukut Tiga in Negeri Sembilan; and Jalan Bundusan in Sabah.

"The community cluster involved Kampung Tok Kamis and Kampung Pulau Panjang in Kelantan; Lorong Perlis Empat (Sarawak); Beladau Selat (Terengganu); and Kampung Nelayan Tengah (Sabah)," he said.

The two high-risk group clusters were in Jalan Kemboja Tujuh in Negeri Sembilan and Iris Garden in Sarawak.

-- BERNAMA