ACTIVE Covid-19 cases soared to 57,152 after Malaysia reported a record daily cases of 5,566 against 3,187 recoveries, the Health Ministry (MOH) said. 

It was the 15th consecutive day new cases had outpaced recoveries. 

More than 90% of the active cases are in the less severe categories. 

Of the total active cases, 49,787 patients were in home quarantine, 4,211 in low-risk quarantine centres and 3,041 in hospitals.

Seven deaths were reported yesterday and 960 patients hospitalised with Covid-19.

The hospital utilisation rate declined to 60.2% yesterday from 62.3% the day before while the coronavirus take-up rate was also reduced to 31.3% from 37.6%.

Ventilator utilisation was at 33.1% while intensive care unit occupancy was at 49.9%, of which 13.3% were 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 ICU and on ventilators.

The Klang Valley region reported the most number of hospitalisation yesterday at 302, largely contributed by Selangor with 248 admissions, followed by Kuala Lumpur (48) and Putrajaya (6).

Other stated recording new ward admissions were Johor (189), Sabah (128), Negri Sembilan (72), Sarawak (63), Kelantan (45), Pahang (33), Perak (33), Kedah (29), Penang (22), Terengganu (16), Malacca (14) and Perlis (14).

Only Labuan did not report any new hospital patients. 

Malacca posted the highest hospital bed utilisation rate, including for non-Covid cases, at 71.1%.

Of the 5,566 new Covid-19 cases reported yesterday, 99.1% (5,515) of them were in the asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic categories while 0.9% (51) were in the more severe categories of 3, 4 and 5.

A total of 1,749 or 31.4% of the new cases were from the Klang Valley. Selangor logged 1,258, Kuala Lumpur (430) and Putrajaya (61).

Other states and territories reporting new cases were Johor (868), Kedah (581), Sabah (490), Kelantan (456), Penang (426), Malacca (250), Negri Sembilan (216), Pahang (204), Perak (160), Terengganu (102), Perlis (44), Sarawak (17) and Labuan (3).

Among the seven fatalities reported yesterday, one was classified dead on arrival (DOA), in Perak. 

All deaths were backdated. 

Selangor and Johor reported two deaths each and Pahang, Perak and Terengganu one each. 

The Covid-19 death toll stood at 31,985. 

The local virus mortality rate was at 0.3% while the two-week average for virus deaths stood at 35 per 10 million people. – February 2, 2022.