Malaysia's daily COVID cases hit four-month high

Malaysia reported 9,117 new COVID-19 infections on Saturday, the highest daily figure in four months, due to the highly transmissible Omicron variant. The new cases bring the total number of infections since the start of the pandemic to 2,904,131. Malaysia has also reported over 32,000 deaths. Noor Hisham Abdullah, the director general of health, has said Malaysia is expected to see a surge in COVID-19 infections and that the country's high vaccination rate has resulted in fewer number of severe cases.