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The official tally for Covid-19 cases in Malaysia has hit the one million mark, at 1,013,438.
17,045 cases were reported today (July 25), breaking the previous record of 15,902 cases yesterday.
Hardest-hit cities include Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, and Kedah, with more than 8,500 new cases reported in Selangor alone.
Delta variant
Malaysia is currently under its third nation-wide Movement Control Order (MCO), which started on June 1.
However, most of the country has been under lockdown since May 12.
Authorities are attributing the virus' spread to the more contagious Delta variant.
On July 23, Kelantan detected its first case of the variant in a woman in Pasir Puteh, The Star reported.
Housing and Health Committee chairman Izani Husin said in a July 25 press conference that the woman had already been infected with Covid-19 previously.
The case has also been classified as a sporadic case, which means that the authorities have not been able to link the case to existing clusters.
"Therefore, I expect that this Delta variant infection is already present in the community and this is very worrying," he added.
On June 15, Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin introduced a four-phase National Recovery Plan (NRP) that aims to help the country recover from the pandemic.
Indicators for each phase depend on the number of daily cases, the capacity of Intensive Care Units (ICU), as well as vaccination rates.
The country is expected to remain in lockdown until daily cases fall below 4,000.
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Top image by Andrew Koay