FOR the first time in 40 days, active Covid-19 cases in Malaysia increased after the country reported more new infections than recoveries.

According to the Health Ministry’s CovidNow website, active cases rose by 35, from 73,223 to 73,258 after the country logged 5,726 new cases compared to 5,607 recoveries and 84 fatalities.

Of the new infections, the Klang Valley, comprising Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, accounted for 1,305 or 23% of the overall cases.

Selangor had 929 cases, Kuala Lumpur (339) and Putrajaya (37).

The cases in Selangor were the most for any state yesterday, followed by Sarawak (713) and Kelantan (685).

Other states reporting new cases are Sabah (565), Johor (488), Penang (378), Kedah (346), Terengganu (292), Perak (257), Malacca (253), Pahang (219), Negeri Sembilan (199), Perlis (23) and Labuan (3).

Of the new cases, 98.3% or 5,629 cases were in the less serious asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic categories of 1 and 2, while only 1.7% or 97 cases were in the more serious stages of categories 3, 4 and 5.

Only 1,337 of the total cases were admitted to hospitals.

In the past seven days, hospital admissions declined by 27%. The seven-day average admission stood at 1,300 with bed utilisation at 69%.

Although Selangor had consistently logged the most cases over the past weeks, it reported a 23% decline in hospital admissions over the last seven days.

On an average, over the past week, Selangor recorded 299 hospital admissions while bed utilisation stood at 71%.

Meanwhile, among active cases, 56,484 (77.1%) patients were in home quarantine, 9,580 (13.1%) in low-risk quarantine centres and 6,610 (9%) were hospitalised.

Patients in the intensive care unit also dropped to 584, of which 305 required ventilatory support. – October 27, 2021.