COVID-19 hospital admissions went up to 1,075 yesterday after staying below the four-digit range for 21 days.

The coronavirus also claimed 12 more lives yesterday, taking the death toll to 31,930, according to the Health Ministry’s CovidNow website.

Malaysia reported 4,744 new infections yesterday, the highest daily tally since January 1.

Hospital utilisation stood at 66.6% yesterday, coronavirus cases accounting for 29.1% of the rate.

Ventilator utilisation was at 36.6% while intensive care unit (ICU) occupancy stood at 54.4%, of which 14.9% was taken up by Covid patients.

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

Selangor had the most new hospitalisations at 281, followed by Kuala Lumpur (196) and Putrajaya (2).

Hospital bed utilisation in the Klang Valley, including for non-Covid cases, was at 60.6%. 

Other states reporting new hospital patients were Johor (229), Sabah (93), Negri Sembilan (60), Sarawak (49), Kelantan (45), Kedah (32), Pahang (22), Perak (22), Malacca (20), Penang (11), Terengganu (9) and Perlis (4). 

Only Labuan did not report new admissions. 

Of the 4,744 new cases yesterday, 1,746, or 37%, were in the Klang Valley. 

Of the total cases in Klang Valley, Selangor accounted for 1,318 of them, Kuala Lumpur (390) and Putrajaya (38). 

Other states and territories reporting new infections were Johor (700), Kedah (455), Kelantan (357), Sabah (335), Negri Sembilan (311), Pahang (256), Penang (183), Malacca (153), Perak (148), Terengganu (69), Perlis (17), Sarawak (13) and Labuan (1).

Active infections added up to 46,785, the majority of which were in home quarantine.

As for the 12 deaths reported yesterday, two were dead on arrival (DOA). All the deaths were backdated.

Selangor and Sabah registered three deaths each, Johor two, and Malacca, Pahang, Perak and Penang one each.

The DOA cases were reported in Sabah and Johor.

The Covid death toll in Malaysia reached 31,930.

The local virus mortality rate was at 0.5% while the national average for deaths by infection was five per one million people. – January 27, 2022.