KUALA LUMPUR (BLOOMBERG) - Malaysia will no longer use daily coronavirus infections as a metric to ease curbs for states once they enter the second phase of the national recovery plan, Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz said.

The government will instead use Covid-19 hospitalisation rate as one of three indicators to allow states to move to the third and the final phase of the plan, he said in a video posted on his Facebook page on Thursday (Aug 5).

The two other thresholds - vaccination rate and intensive care unit occupancy - will remain the same, he said.

"Once 40 per cent of adults have been vaccinated, the number of new cases becomes less relevant because most cases show little to no symptoms, hence reducing the burden on public infrastructure," said Datuk Seri Zafrul.

While the nation added 19,819 infections on Wednesday, 98.1 per cent of the cases showed light to zero symptoms, according to the Health Ministry. Still, there was always a chance that their health may deteriorate over time, the ministry's director-general Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a statement.

With new infections piling up - daily cases were a record 20,596 for the first time on Thursday - the government is focusing on speeding up its vaccination drive.

About 31 per cent of the adult population had received both doses of the vaccine and 62 per cent had taken at least one dose as at Aug 3, according to the Health Ministry.

The hospitalisation rate must be three cases per 100,000 of the population for states to move from the second to the third phase, said Mr Zafrul.

Currently, Penang, Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang and Perak are in the second phase, which allows for the opening up of more economic sectors.

The third phase involves reopening all economic activities with the exception of those on the negative list, according to the plan.

Based on this new indicator, the government allowed Perlis, Sarawak and Labuan to enter the third phase beginning Wednesday, Mr Zafrul said.

To get to the final stage, the rate must be 1.3 cases per 100,000 people, he said.

States in this phase may reopen their social and economic sectors under new norms, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said in July. Most states are expected to reach this phase as early as October, according to the Premier.