KUALA LUMPUR, May 15 – Malaysia has recorded 4,140 new cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours and has lost 44 more patients to the disease, setting a new record for most deaths in one day.

The previous deadliest day for Covid-19 in Malaysia was May 13, when the country lost 39 patients.

Health Director General Tan Sri, Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, also announced in his official Twitter account that Selangor continued to record the highest number of cases at 1,507, followed by Johor (433) and Kuala Lumpur (398 ).

Today was also the fourth day in a row that Malaysia’s Covid-19 cases have passed the 4,000 case mark.

Dr Noor Hisham said the people who died today were 43 Malaysians and one foreigner, bringing the total number of deaths to 1,866 since the pandemic began in the country last year.

Previously, the Selangor health department also reported that 26 of the deaths today were attributable to the state alone.

The number of Covid-19 patients currently hospitalized in intensive care units (ICUs) across the country is also at a record high of 502, the first time that figure has exceeded 500. Of these, 272 were in need of ventilators.

There are currently 42,135 active cases out of a total of 466,330 confirmed cases in the country.

Dr Noor Hisham added that there were currently 453,001 people under investigation or were in close contact with confirmed Covid-19 patients.

He said the health ministry had also put 3,551 other people under surveillance.

A total of 3,432 patients have been released today, bringing the total number of recovered cases to 422,329.

The health ministry also unveiled 15 new groups today involving eight workplace groups, four faith groups, two education-related groups and one high-risk group.

This includes four new clusters in Johor, three each in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, and one cluster that involves both Selangor and Kuala Lumpur.

Two other groups are in Penang while one each is in Kelantan, Negri Sembilan and Pahang.