Malaysia reports highest daily Covid death toll

Malaysia recorded a fresh high of 592 single-day death toll from Covid-19 as of midnight Saturday, bringing the total deaths to 20,419, according to the health ministry.

Another 19,550 new infections were reported in the past 24 hours, with seven imported and 19,543 local transmissions, bringing the national total tally to 1,960,500, data released on the ministry's website showed.

Another 21,771 patients were released after recovery, bringing the total number of cured and discharged to 1,700,730.

Of the remaining 239,351 active cases, 1,272 are being held in intensive care units and 724 of those are in need of assisted breathing.

The country reported 258,929 doses of Covid-19 vaccines administered on Saturday alone. So far, some 65.2 per cent of the population have received at least one dose and 52.1 per cent are fully vaccinated.