UPDATED 8.40PM | CORONAVIRUS | The number of patients with Covid-19 that has been discharged over the past 24 hours has exceeded the number of new confirmed cases over the same period.

According to Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, there were 168 discharges and 134 new cases reported.

He said cumulatively, 2,276 or 47.23 percent of Covid-19 patients have recovered.

There are currently 66 patients being treated under intensive care of which 36 require ventilators.

Meanwhile, Noor Hisham announced that Patient 2,797 died at 9.15am today at the Malacca general hospital.

The male patient was 62 years old and had several pre-existing medical conditions.

In a Facebook post later, Noor Hisham clarified that Patient 2,797 is a close contact of an index case (Case 703), contrary to what he had said earlier at his daily press conference.

"This means Case 2,797 is not an index case and did not attend the gathering at Seri Petaling.

"The Health Ministry expresses its condolences and wishes to apologise to the deceased's family," he said.

Cumulatively, there have been 77 Covid-19 related deaths in Malaysia or 1.6 percent of the total number of confirmed cases.

Keep up with the latest information on the outbreak in the country with Malaysiakini's free Covid-19 tracker.

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