KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia reported 869 new coronavirus cases on Saturday (Oct 17), its highest daily count so far, health authorities said.
All of the new COVID-19 cases are local transmissions, involving 745 citizens and 124 non-Malaysians, Health Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said.
Many of the cases continue to be in the state of Sabah, with 451 infections over the past 24 hours.
Four more deaths were confirmed, bringing the total number of fatalities to 180.
Saturday’s case count is a sharp rise from the day before when 629 new infections were reported.
After a recent surge in cases, Malaysia imposed targeted lockdowns this month, with Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Putrajaya under a Conditional Movement Control Order until Oct 27.
The country’s tally of cases stands at 19,627.
There are 91 patients being treated in the intensive care unit, with 30 of them requiring ventilator support.
Download our app or subscribe to our Telegram channel for the latest updates on the coronavirus outbreak: https://cna.asia/telegram