KUALA LUMPUR (REUTERS, THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Malaysia on Wednesday (April 15) reported 85 new cases of coronavirus, the lowest daily rise since the government imposed curbs to limit the virus' spread on March 18, taking the total number of infections to 5,072.

The health ministry also reported one new death, with a total of 83 fatalities so far.

Malaysia previously had the highest number of confirmed infections in South-east Asia but was overtaken this week by neighbours the Philippines and Indonesia, which reported a total of 5,453 and 5,136 cases respectively on Wednesday.

So far, 2,647 patients in Malaysia have recovered from Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, since the outbreak began. This translates into a recovery rate of 52.2 per cent of the total number of positive cases.

A total of 56 patients are being treated at intensive care units, with 32 of them requiring the use of ventilators.

The 83rd fatality was a 69-year-old Malaysian man with a history of diabetes and high blood pressure.

He had been receiving treatment at the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre in Kuala Lumpur since March 21 and died at 6.41am on Wednesday.

Malaysia continues to enforce its movement control order, which has shut schools and non-essential businesses, largely confined people to their homes except to buy food and closed its borders to tourists.

The controls were recently extended to April 28.

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