MALAYSIA recorded an increasing trend in the average number of active Covid-19 cases for the second epidemiological week (ME 2/2022) from January 9-15, director-general of health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said.

He said average active cases increased by 2.4% to 39,507 in ME 2/2022 from 38,581 in ME 1/2022 (January 2-8).

A 0.7% increase was also recorded for new infections, from 21,859 (ME 1/2022) to 22,006 (ME 2/2022), he said.

“However, the number of deaths showed a consistent drop of 11.3% with 126 fatalities in ME 2/2022, compared with 142 in ME 1/2022. This drop was recorded beginning ME 52/2021,” he said in a statement today.

Noor Hisham said cases requiring treatment in the intensive care unit (ICU) also declined 8% to 185 (ME 2/2022) from 201 (ME 1/2022), with a decrease being consistently reported the past nine weeks since ME 45/2021.

He said cases requiring ventilators also dropped 18.1% to 68 (ME 2/2022) from 83 (ME 1/2022), with the average numbers continuing a downward trend for 21 weeks since ME 33/2021.

He also said education centres accounted for 15 of the 43 new clusters reported in ME 2/2022, followed by workplaces (10), community (9), high-risk groups (5), imports (3) and religious entity (1).

“The education and community clusters increased sharply by 400% and 350% respectively in ME 2/2022 compared with ME 1/2022, following the reopening of the schooling session throughout the country on January 9,” he said.

“The increase in education clusters should be viewed seriously by all quarters because it can result in a wider infection among students, teachers, workers at education institutions, their family members and subsequently spread to the community.”

On hospital capacity, Noor Hisham said the use of non-ICU beds and beds at low-risk Covid-19 quarantine and treatment centres showed an increase in ME 2/2022 compared with ME 1/2022 while the use of ICU beds and ventilators showed a 2% drop during the same period.

He said in preparation for a possible surge in Omicron cases, the Health Ministry is ready to use district hospitals as hybrid hospitals to treat Covid-19 cases in categories one to three.

He said the ministry is also prepared to refer categories four and five patients to specialist hospitals and place stable patients under monitoring at home via the Covid-19 assessment centre until the end of the isolation period, apart from using antiviral drugs identified earlier at the assessment centre and quarantine and treatment centre levels. – Bernama, January 17, 2022.