Malaysia's Health Ministry on Thursday (Aug 5) said it has granted conditional approval for the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use.

The ministry will continue to evaluate the quality, safety and effectiveness of the vaccine to ensure that its benefits outweigh the risks, health director-general Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a statement.

The number of new COVID-19 cases in Malaysia on Thursday crossed the 20,000 mark for the first time, as the country set a record number of daily infections for a second consecutive day.

Malaysia reported 20,596 new infections on Thursday, according to data released by the health ministry. - Reuters