KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 5 (Reuters) - 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.

The country has seen a surge in COVID-19 infections since July, breaking single-day records for new infections and deaths. Daily caseloads have not fallen below the 10,000 mark since Jul 12.

More than 1.2 million cases have been reported in the country since the start of the pandemic.