A RECORD 1,023 people were admitted to the intensive care units of hospitals nationwide, and for a second consecutive day 207 people died from Covid-19, said Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

The director-general of health said the latest fatalities bring the cumulative death toll to 8,408.

The deaths today would mean the country has recorded 414 deaths in just two days.

In contrast, 471 people died of the coronavirus in all of 2020 since the onset of the pandemic.

Of those in ICU today, 524 also require respiratory assistance.

With fewer recoveries at 11,526 as opposed to the total number of fresh infections at 16,117, active cases now stand at 170,224.

Of today’s fresh cases, Noor Hisham said 9,061 cases or 56.3% are in the asymptomatic category 1, while 41.6% are in category 2 with mild symptoms.

In category 3 with pneumonia, there are 135 cases or 0.8%. In category 4, where patients require oxygen, there are 124 or 0.8%.

Category 5, the most critical stage of Covid-19 requiring a patient to be on ventilator, has 87 cases and is 0.5% of today’s new infections.

Of all those in categories 3 to 5, 82.7% of them had not been vaccinated.

Of those in the first two categories, 88.1% had no history of vaccination.

Of today’s deaths, the bulk of 96 occurred in Selangor, followed by 21 in Johor and 34 in Kuala Lumpur.

Of all the fatalities, 31 died before reaching the hospital.

As to the rate of infectivity (RT), Noor Hisham said the average for Malaysia was 1.14 as of yesterday.

“The states that recorded the highest RT value were Terengganu (1.29), followed by Kedah and Johor (both at 1.26), and Sabah (1.23).  

“All states recorded RTs above 1.0 except Labuan and Perlis,” he said. – July 27, 2021.