MALAYSIA saw a hike in Covid-19 hospitalisations, with 915 people from 3,175 new infections recorded yesterday admitted, the Health Ministry said. 

The country has been reporting admissions below 900 for the past three days before yesterday, with the 748 reported on Monday the lowest since December 20, 2021, when 669 patients were admitted. 

The CovidNow website showed the bed utilisation rate rose to 66.3% yesterday from 65.1% the day before, while the bed usage among the coronavirus patients dropped to 29% from 29.5% the day before.

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 (ICU) and on ventilators. 

The Klang Valley, comprising Selangor (226), Kuala Lumpur (40) and Putrajaya (22), accounted for a total of 288 new admissions, the most by any state or territory. 

Bed utilisation in the Klang Valley, including for non-Covid cases, increased to 58.6% yesterday from 58.3% the day before. 

Other states and territories that reported new admissions were Johor (194), Sabah (111), Sarawak (68), Kelantan (53), Negri Sembilan (39), Pahang (38), Perak (36), Kedah (28), Perlis (17), Malacca (15), Penang (14), Terengganu (13) and Labuan (1).

Bed utilisation continued to rise to 83.9% in Malacca.

Meanwhile, of the 3,175 new infections reported yesterday, the Klang Valley accounted for 998 or 31.4% of the total cases – 662 in Selangor, 290 in Kuala Lumpur and 46 in Putrajaya. 

Other states and territories reporting new infections were Kelantan (393), Johor (318), Kedah (260), Sabah (253), Penang (197), Malacca (186), Pahang (178), Negri Sembilan (151), Perak (113), Terengganu (88), Sarawak (22), Perlis (12) and Labuan (6). 

As Malaysia reported more new infections than recoveries yesterday, active cases increased by 171 to 39,913. 

Ventilator utilisation was at 33.7% while ICU occupancy stood at 57%, of which 25.3% were due to Covid. 

Among these, 32,703 patients were in home quarantine, 3,659 in low-risk quarantine centres and 3,322 in hospital. 

There were 229 people in intensive care, 99 of them on ventilators. – January 12, 2022.