PETALING JAYA: The upswing in the daily tally of new Covid-19 cases continues. A total of 563 cases were reported in the 24 hours leading up to noon yesterday, the second highest number of new cases in a day.

On Oct 6, a total of 691 cases were reported, the highest number of new infections in a day for the country.

In response to the continued upsurge in infections, the government will impose a conditional movement control order (CMCO) in Selangor as well as the federal territories of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya from midnight tonight.

Across the South China Sea, Sabahans will be placed under the same restrictions.

Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah (pix) told an online press conference yesterday that the additional cases now brings the national tally to 16,220 cases.

Of those, 5,039 or almost a third of the total are active cases.

Of the new cases reported yesterday, only one was imported, that of a Malaysian who returned from Indonesia.

Among the 562 who were infected locally, 498 are Malaysians and the remaining 64 are foreigners.

Ten of the new cases in Peninsular Malaysia are those who have returned from Sabah. This brings the number of patients who have a history of travel to the state to 363.

Sabah, with 291 cases yesterday, continues to head the list of states with the highest number of new infections.

Penang comes next with 141 but all were confined to the Remand Prison cluster.

Selangor is next with 69 new cases. Kuala Lumpur had 27 new cases, followed by Negri Sembilan with 12, Kedah with 10 and Perak with four. Johor, Labuan and Putrajaya had two each and Sarawak and Malacca had a case each.

Noor Hisham said 109 patients were discharged yesterday but 98 others were still in intensive care, with 29 requiring ventilator assistance.

Another two fatalities were reported yesterday, bringing the death toll to 159.

There were six new clusters, namely Baiduri, Bah Perdana and Bah Kasturi in Kuala Lumpur, Kolong in Sabah, Bah Tropicana in Selangor and Rinting in Johor.