HEALTH director-general Dr Muhammad Radzi Abu Hassan said 3,626 Covid-19 cases were reported during the 47th Epidemiology Week (ME 47/2023) from November 19 to 25, an increase of 57.3% compared to the 2,305 cases recorded from the previous week.

Dr Muhammad Radzi Abu Hassan said 48% involved those between the ages of 20 and 4, with more than 98% only having mild symptoms.

He said the weekly Covid-19 cases had exceeded 1,000 every week from Week ME 41/2023 to ME 47/2023 with an increased rate of between 7.1 to 57.3%.

He said there are eight clusters still active reported with 121 cases involved.

“The cumulative number of clusters reported up to ME 47/2023 is 7,248. The majority of clusters reported are education clusters,” he said in a statement today.

Dr Muhammad Radzi said the admission rate increased to 2.9 per 100,000 population in ME 47/2023 compared to the previous week, with the occupancy of Intensive Care Unit beds at 0.4% and non-critical beds at 0.9%, while patients requiring ventilators remained at 0.2%.

Although there is an increase in Covid-19 cases, he said, the situation is under control and does not burden existing health facilities.

According to him, a total of four new Omicron variants were reported in ME 47/2023, all of which consisted of Variant of Concern (VOC).

He said the cumulative number of cases infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus categorised as VOC and Variant of Interest (VOI) was 28,102 cases with 27,297 cases being VOC and 805 VOI cases.

Dr Muhammad Radzi said two cases of the new Omicron variant BA.2.86 had been reported in Malaysia with both cases being treated as outpatients and in a stable condition.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently reported an increase in the BA.2.86 variant, with the first reported on July 24 and classified as VOI. – Bernama, December 3, 2023.