KUALA LUMPUR: The Ministry of Health (MOH) registered a total 13,336 new COVID-19 infections within the last 24 hours, a big drop from the 16,863 cases reported the previous day.

This brings the total number of COVID-19 infections in the country to 4,152,203 cases since the pandemic began.

According to the ministry's COVIDNOW portal, 13,147 of the new COVID-19 cases were local transmissions while a total of 189 involved imported cases.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said that of the reported new cases, 6,885 people (51.63 per cent) are in Category 1 which is for those who have no to mild symptoms, while 36 cases (0.27 per cent) fall under Category 5 for severe symptoms.

Dr Noor Hisham said there were 25,552 recoveries reported, taking the number of active cases to 220,872.

Of the active cases, 214,723 (97.2%) are under home quarantine, while 873 (0.4%) are placed at quarantine and treatment centres.

According to the report from MOH, 5,276 patients are currently being hospitalised including 288 people in the intensive care unit (ICU), with 185 of them requiring breathing assistance.

Meanwhile, a total of 54 deaths were reported with 16 classified as being brought in dead, taking the overall total to 34,842.