PUTRAJAYA (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - The number of Covid-19 recoveries in Malaysia has outpaced new cases for the ninth day in a row.

As a result, the total number of active cases has now gone down to 36,797 in the latest daily Covid-19 statistics.

On Feb 11, the country's active cases were at their highest at 51,783.

The figure is getting closer to pre-movement control order (MCO) numbers, where active cases were 30,390 on Jan 12.

Active cases refer to the number of people who have tested positive for Covid-19 and are receiving treatment at hospitals or quarantine centres.

In his daily Covid-19 updates, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said Malaysia recorded 2,936 new cases of Covid-19 on Friday (Feb 19).

During this time, 13 patients died while 4,889 others were discharged.

Dr Noor Hisham said the ministry had uncovered 13 new Covid-19 clusters in the country.

Ten of the new clusters were infections discovered at workplaces in Johor, Selangor, Sabah, Sarawak and Kuala Lumpur.

Dr Noor Hisham said there are now 511 active clusters under the ministry's supervision nationwide.

Meanwhile, Malaysia's police chief says maximum security will be imposed at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport when the first batch of Covid-19 vaccines arrive in the country on Sunday (Feb 21).

Inspector-General of Police Abdul Hamid Bador said police are ready to facilitate the transport of the vaccines from KLIA to the storage facility in Subang, Selangor, before being distributed to other areas nationwide.

He said the police would remain vigilant even though there had not been any word of a threat or attempt to sabotage the vaccines during transport, storage or distribution.

"We are taking into account every eventuality, including the possibility that someone with mental problems might attempt to hijack the vaccines in transit.

"If an accident occurs during transport, it might damage and render the vaccines useless," he said in an interview recently.

Malaysia will receive 1 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, with local vaccinations to begin on Friday (Feb 26).

After Subang, the vaccines will later be distributed to Bayan Lepas in Penang for the northern zone; Senai in Johor for the south, as well as Kuching, Sarawak, and Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

Malaysia's Armed Forces will provide coordination assistance in movement control and logistics management of the Covid-19 vaccine, said Chief of Defence Force General Affendi Buang.

Power utility Tenaga Nasional, meanwhile, said it has made preliminary preparations to ensure electricity supply at vaccine storage centres and vaccination centres nationwide remains stable during the immunisation programme, Bernama news agency reported. A stable electricity supply is needed as the Pfizer vaccine must stored at -70 degrees Celsius.