Kuala Lumpur, May 30 (IANS): Malaysia reported jumps in the highest daily record of new Covid-19 cases and deaths on Saturday, after the government announced a total lockdown to contain the outbreak.

A new daily high of 9,020 infections were reported, an increase from the previous high of 8,290 cases just recorded a day ago, bringing the national total to 558,534, according to the health ministry.

A new record daily high of 98 deaths from Covid-19 were reported, a significant increase from the 61 deaths reported on Friday, bringing the total fatalities to 2,650, the Xinhua news agency reported.

Some 5,527 patients were released after recovery in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of cured and discharged to 479,666 or 86 per cent of all cases.

Of the remaining 76,218 active cases, a record high of 844 cases are being held in intensive care units and 430 of those are in need of assisted breathing.

A recent spike of Covid-19 cases in Malaysia has forced the government to announce on Friday to impose a total lockdown from June 1 to 14, restricting all sectors except for essential services.