KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia today reported 17,577 new Covid-19 cases, with Sarawak recording the highest number of infections at 3,480.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said this increased the cumulative number of cases in the country to 2,067,327.
Selangor logged 2,646 new cases, followed by Johor (2,334), Perak (1,596), Sabah (1,533), Penang (1,462) and Kedah (1,173).
States that reported three-digit numbers were Kelantan (869), Pahang (832), Terengganu (719), Kuala Lumpur (366), Melaka (287), and Negri Sembilan (198).
Perlis, Putrajaya and Labuan recorded 41, 31, and 10 cases respectively.
A large portion of today's cases (17,333 or 98.6 per cent) are patients in Categories One and Two, while only 1.4 per cent (244 cases) are in Categories Three, Four, and Five.
Dr Noor Hisham also said as of 5pm on Sept 16, intensive care unit (ICU) beds in Kedah and Kuala Lumpur were full, while 94 per cent of 78 ICU beds in Penang were occupied.
Meanwhile, non-ICU beds in Kelantan and Sarawak had an occupancy rate of 90 per cent and above, with 97 per cent and 90 per cent usage respectively.
In total, 1,223 cases were being treated in the ICU, including 891 Covid-19 cases, and 332 suspected, probable and under investigation cases. Of the total, 720 need ventilator assistance.
Dr Noor Hisham said nearly 23,000 people had recovered from the virus, increasing the total number of recoveries to 1,823,248 (88.2 per cent).
The ministry also detected 19 new clusters as of noon today, in Johor, Melaka, Pahang, Perak, Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Kedah, Kelantan, and Sarawak.
Dr Noor Hisham said 11 of the 19 clusters were workplace clusters, while six were community clusters and two involved high-risk groups.
Meanwhile, Malaysia's infectivity rate or Rt is currently at 0.98, with Sarawak still reporting the highest Rt at 1.11.
Seven other states had logged an Rt of 1.0 and above, including Perak (1.04), Terengganu (1.04), Perlis (1.03), Pahang (1.02), Johor (1.01), Penang (1.01) and Kelantan (1.0).
Sabah, Melaka, Kedah, Negri Sembilan, Putrajaya, Selangor and Kuala Lumpur reported Rt rates of between 0.82 and 0.93.
Only Labuan reported an Rt of 0.