Kuala Lumpur, July 26 (IANS) Malaysia reported 17,045 new Covid-19 infections in the highest daily spike since the outbreak, bringing the national total to 1,013,438, the health ministry has said.

Health Ministry Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said on Sunday in a press statement that six of the new cases are imported and 17,039 are local transmissions, Xinhua news agency reported.

Another 92 deaths were reported, pushing the death toll to 7,994.

Some 9,683 more patients were released after recovery, bringing the total cured and discharged to 844,541, or 83.3 per cent of all cases.

Of the remaining 160,903 active cases, 970 are being held in intensive care units and 501 of those are in need of assisted breathing.

--IANS int/pgh