KUALA LUMPUR (April 2): The country continued to record new Covid-19 cases below the 20,000 mark for the fifth consecutive day, but there was a slight increase as 17,476 infections were reported on Friday (April 1), compared with 15,941 on Thursday.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the new development brought the cumulative number of Covid-19 cases in the country to 4,219,395.
He said out of the 17,476 new infections, 9,813 patients were in Category 1, followed by 7,552 in Category 2 and 111 in Categories 3 to 5.
“Of the 111 cases in Categories 3 to 5, 22 have not been vaccinated or have not been fully vaccinated, 45 have received two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine but yet to receive a booster dose, and 44 have received a booster dose,” he said in a statement on Saturday.
Dr Noor Hisham said of the new infections, 263 patients required treatment in the intensive care unit (ICU), while 162 required respiratory assistance.
According to him, 897 cases were admitted to the hospital on Friday, with 429 in Categories 3 to 5, and 468 in Categories 1 and 2.
Meanwhile, he said 17,321 patients were reported to have recovered, bringing the cumulative number of recoveries to 3,977,403.
On the use of specialised health facilities for Covid-19 cases, he said only Kuala Lumpur recorded over 50% ICU bed use on Friday at 67%. No other states recorded over 50% usage of beds at Low-Risk Covid-19 Quarantine and Treatment Centres.
“The number of Covid-19 patients who needed breathing assistance dropped to 162, with the percentage of use of the ventilators being 18%,” he said.
The national Covid-19 infectivity rate stood at 0.87, with Selangor still recording the highest rate at 1.07 and Sabah the lowest at 0.65.
Six new clusters were identified, bringing the total number of active clusters to 194.
