Malaysia reports record 24,599 new COVID-19 cases, 393 deaths

SINGAPORE: Malaysia reported a new daily record of 24,599 COVID-19 cases on Thursday (Aug 26), as infections peaked for the eighth time in August.

It also registered 393 new deaths, another daily record. Malaysia's previous record for daily fatalities was on Aug 8, with 360 deaths.

Selangor continued to log the highest number of cases among states, with 6,936 new infections, while Kuala Lumpur added 881 cases. Together with Putrajaya, the Klang Valley accounted for 7,837 new cases.

Sabah recorded the second-highest number of infections at 3,487. Other states reporting cases in the four digits were Johor with 2,785, Penang with 2,078, Sarawak with 2,024, Kedah with 1,538, Kelantan with 1,312 and Perak with 1,170.

Malaysia has reported more than 1.6 million COVID-19 infections and 15,211 deaths to date. 

The country first crossed the 20,000-mark for daily cases on Aug 5, with the last record of 23,564 new cases reported on Aug 20.

On that day, restrictions were eased for fully vaccinated people in places under phase one of the country's four-phase national recovery plan, allowing dining-in, non-contact sports and recreational activities.

The states under phase one are Kedah, Selangor, Melaka and Johor, as well as the federal territories of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya.

On Thursday, Labuan became the first place in Malaysia to move to phase four of the national recovery plan. The federal territory, which has a population of about 100,000, reported three new infections on Thursday.

In phase four, all economic sectors in Labuan will be allowed to operate with a staff capacity of 100 per cent, subject to the standard operating procedures being enforced, said Prime Minister Ismail Sabri when announcing the transition on Tuesday.