PETALING JAYA: Malaysia recorded 2,063 new Covid-19 cases on Friday (May 20), bringing the total number of cases in the country to 4,487,482 infections since the pandemic began.

The Health Ministry's CovidNow portal reported that 2,060 of Friday's new Covid-19 cases were local transmissions while three imported infections were logged.

Recoveries outpaced new infections, with 2,618 patients recovering on Friday. This brings the cumulative number of recoveries in Malaysia to 4,422,615 since the pandemic began.

The portal also reported that there were 29,229 active cases currently in the country, with 28,050, or 96%, observing home quarantine and 19 individuals, or 0.1%, admitted to low-risk quarantine and treatment centres.

The CovidNow portal reported that 1,160 patients, or 3.97% of the total, were currently admitted to hospital for treatment. The number of Covid-19 patients warded at intensive care units (ICU) throughout the country stands at 36, with 20 of these patients requiring ventilation support.

The ICU utilisation rate nationwide stood at 58.4%, with six states or localities recording ICU usage rates of more than 60%.

Selangor had the highest ICU utilisation rate at 81.9%, followed by Kedah (78.1%), Melaka (70.7%), Kelantan (69.6%), Kuala Lumpur (66%) and Negri Sembilan (60.9%).

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry's GitHub data repository reported that five Covid-19 deaths were reported on Friday.

This brings the death toll to 35,633.