COVID-19 hospital admissions dropped for the fourth straight day, to 790 yesterday.

Malaysia has now reported fewer than 1,000 daily admissions for 24 days in a row.

The CovidNow website showed the hospital utilisation rate at 61.3% and bed occupancy by virus patients down to 26.7%.

The hospital admission rate indicates the severity of the virus. Hospital utilisation includes bed occupancy as well as the number of patients in intensive care units and on ventilators.

In the Klang Valley, Selangor logged 204 cases, Kuala Lumpur (10) and Putrajaya (13).

Bed utilisation in the Klang Valley, including for non-Covid cases, was 51%.

Other states that reported new admissions were Johor (174), Kedah (39), Kelantan (55), Malacca and Perlis (10), Negri Sembilan (39), Pahang (14), Perak (34), Penang (36), Sabah (90), Sarawak (45), Terengganu (17). 

Although Malacca reported few new hospital admissions yesterday, its bed utilisation rate was 80.2%, the highest by state or territory.

Meanwhile, Malaysia reported 2,690 new coronavirus cases yesterday.

There were 853 cases in the Klang Valley – 673 in Selangor, 167 in Kuala Lumpur and 13 in Putrajaya. 

Other states and territories with new cases were Johor (329), Kedah (254), Kelantan (272), Malacca (121), Negri Sembilan (71), Pahang (158), Perak (112), Perlis (12), Penang (160), Sabah (161), Sarawak (12), Terengganu (173), and Labuan (2). 

Ventilator utilisation was at 34% while intensive care unit wards were 53% occupied, 25.5% by coronavirus patients.

The number of active cases dropped to 39,733. Of the figure, 32,549 patients were in home quarantine, 3,565 in low-risk quarantine centres and 3,354 in hospital.

There were 265 people in intensive care, 118 of them on ventilators. – January 4, 2022.