Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said there were 109 recoveries, bringing the total number of those discharged to 11,022, or 67.95% of the total infections.
In a tweet, Noor Hisham said the 563 new cases bring the total number of cases in the country to 16,220.
A total of 5,039 people are still being treated. Ninety-eight of them are in the intensive care unit, with 29 requiring respiratory assistance.
The two deaths bring the toll to 159, or 0.98% of the total number of cases.
The two dead were an 85-year-old Malaysian woman and a 48-year-old female foreigner who died at Hospital Tawau and Hospital Tuaran respectively.
The Malaysian woman had a history of high blood pressure, heart and chronic lung diseases.
291 cases in Sabah, new spike of 141 in Penang
Sabah recorded the most cases again with 291, most of which were detected during screenings in localities under lockdown.
Penang recorded a massive spike with 141 cases, although they were all from the Remand Prison Cluster.
A total of 69 cases were reported in Selangor and 27 in Kuala Lumpur, most of which were cases from new and existing clusters, close contact screenings and people who had recently returned from Sabah.
Negeri Sembilan reported 12 cases, which included people linked to clusters, close contacts and Sabah returnees, while Kedah only recorded 10 cases, all of which came from existing clusters.
Perak, Johor, Putrajaya, Labuan, Sarawak and Melaka recorded fewer than five cases each.
Noor Hisham said the bed capacity in Sabah had been increased, with 978 in hospitals and 4,010 in low-risk quarantine and treatment centres. These beds were added today.
The health ministry has also set up a field hospital with the army in Semporna and increased the number of ventilators and anaesthetists in ICUs in the state.
“Following the increase in screenings in Sabah, there has been a greater burden on labs to process test samples. Hence, the health ministry has increased lab capacities in all of Sabah, while working with private labs,” he said.
He added that some 2,223 test samples have been transported back to the peninsula to be processed in labs here.
He said there was sufficient personal protective equipment (PPE) to go around in Sabah, adding that the ministry will ensure it will be distributed to those in need as soon as possible.
He said the health ministry has also mobilised health workers from other states to Sabah to resolve the lack of staff after several health workers there were infected by the virus and required to undergo quarantine.
“The health ministry also urges NGOs to come forward to help Sabah curb the spread of Covid-19 in the state.”
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