ACTIVE Covid-19 cases climbed up to 50,030 after Malaysia reported more than 5,000 new infections for a second day in a row.

There were 5,522 new Covid-19 cases yesterday against 3,285 recoveries, the Health Ministry said.

The number of active cases has been on the rise for the past 11 days as new infections outnumber recoveries. 

Of the 5,522 new cases, 955 were hospitalised.

The nationwide hospital utilisation rate dropped to 62.8% yesterday from 66% the day before.

Ventilator utilisation increased to 34.8% yesterday from 34.3%. 

Intensive care unit (ICU) occupancy also saw an upward trend, increasing to 55.1% from 54.4% with Covid patients accounting for 14.8% of its usage.

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

Selangor logged the most number of admissions by any state or territories at 241, followed by Johor (228) and Sabah (90). 

The admissions in Selangor push up the number of hospitalisations in the Klang Valley to 307, where Kuala Lumpur contributed to 62 admissions and Putrajaya with four.

Other states reporting new admissions were Negri Sembilan (72), Sarawak (63), Kelantan (47), Perak (40), Kedah (35), Pahang (23), Penang (18), Malacca (12), Perlis (10) and Terengganu (10). 

Only Labuan did not report any new hospitalisation.

Meanwhile, of the 5,522 new infections reported, Klang Valley accounted for 2,185 or 39.6% of the overall cases. 

Selangor reported 1,656 cases, Kuala Lumpur (480) and Putrajaya (49).

Other states and territories reporting new cases were Johor (704), Kedah (511), Sabah (358), Malacca (357), Kelantan (338), Negri Sembilan (308), Pahang (276), Penang (242), Perak (151), Terengganu (60), Perlis (18), Sarawak (11) and Labuan (3). 

Malaysia also registered 12 new Covid-19 deaths yesterday, bringing the total fatalities count in the country since the onset of the epidemic to 31,952. 

Among the 12 Covid-19 fatalities, one was declared dead on arrival (DOA). All deaths were backdated. 

Three deaths each were reported in Perak and Johor, two each in Pahang and Sabah, and one each in Malacca and Selangor. 

The sole DOA case was reported in Sabah. 

The local virus mortality rate was at 0.4% while the two-week average for deaths by infection was 42 per 10 million people. – January 29, 2022.