Malaysia's new infections soar past 23,500; Selangor worst-hit
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KUALA LUMPUR • The Malaysian health authorities reported 23,564 new coronavirus infections yesterday, a new daily record, bringing the cumulative total to 1,513,024.
The latest tally surpassed the record high of 22,948 set just a day before on Thursday.
Selangor reported the highest number of cases at 6,974. Sabah came in second with 2,738 cases, followed by Sarawak with 2,548. These are new state records.
The numbers in other states are as follows: Kedah (1,932 cases), Kuala Lumpur (1,652), Penang (1,523), Johor (1,323), Kelantan (1,281), Perak (1,248), Melaka (610), Terengganu (521), Pahang (517), Perlis (64), Putrajaya (24) and Labuan (one).
Sarawak announced yesterday that it was prohibiting dining in at eateries and shortening business hours in the southern zone - covering eight districts including state capital Kuching - for one week from tomorrow to Aug 29 - after the state breached the 2,000 mark for the first time.
Malaysia has been ramping up its vaccination drive, which started in February. As at Thursday, 54 per cent of the population had received at least one dose of a vaccine and 36 per cent were fully vaccinated.
Yesterday, Malaysia received 200,000 doses of the CanSino vaccine - its first shipment of 3.5 million doses ordered from China's CanSino Biologics.
The shipment adds to its arsenal of vaccines approved for its National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme: Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty, Sinovac and AstraZeneca.
Approval has also been granted for Johnson & Johnson's Janssen vaccine.
REUTERS, THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
