MALAYSIA recorded a drop in Covid-19 patients requiring breathing assistance, from 357 to 331 as of noon today, Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said. 

The country has been witnessing a decline in patients needing ventilatory support in the past few days.

Noor Hisham said of the total, 280 tested positive for Covid-19  and the remaining 51 are suspected of being positive. 

Meanwhile, ICU admissions have remained the same in the past 24 hours, with 682 patients; of the total, 603 are positive for Covid-19. 

Noor Hisham also reported 8,933 recoveries, bringing the total number of cases discharged to 2,287,888. 

He said 5,630 of today’s 5,745 new cases were in categories 1 (asymptomatic) and 2 (mildly symptomatic) while 115 were in the more severe categories of infections (3 to 5).

He also reported eight new clusters of infection, of which seven involved workplaces and one in an academic institution. 

Today’s clusters bring the total number of active clusters in the country to 634. – October 19, 2021.