ACTIVE Covid-19 cases climbed to 60,117 after Malaysia reported more than 4,000 infections for the seventh consecutive day. 

There were 5,736 new Covid-19 cases yesterday against 3,196 recoveries, the Health Ministry said.

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

Of the 5,736 new cases, 908 were hospitalised. 

The nationwide hospital utilisation rate increased to 60.8% from 60.2% the day before. 

Ventilator utilisation increased from 33.1% to 32.7%.

Intensive care unit (ICU) occupancy also saw an upward trend, increasing to 50% from 49.9% with Covid patients accounting for 13.1% 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 223, followed by Johor (220) and Sabah (109). 

The admissions in Selangor pushed up the number of hospitalisations in the Klang Valley to 257, where Kuala Lumpur contributed 25 admissions and Putrajaya (9).

Other states reporting new admissions were Kedah (34), Kelantan (69), Malacca (27), Negri Sembilan (38), Pahang (34), Perak (27), Perlis (11), Penang (11), Sarawak (55), Terengganu (15) and Labuan (1).

Meanwhile, of the 5,736 new infections reported, Klang Valley accounted for 1,838.

Selangor reported 1,424 cases, Kuala Lumpur (391) and Putrajaya (23).

Other states and territories reporting new cases were Johor (1,084), Kedah (532), Kelantan (364), Malacca (230), Negri Sembilan (226), Pahang (274), Perak (172), Perlis (20), Penang (433), Sabah (446), Sarawak (21), Terengganu (95) and Labuan (1).

Malaysia also registered seven new Covid-19 deaths yesterday, bringing the total fatalities count in the country since the onset of the epidemic to 31,992. 

Among the seven Covid-19 fatalities, two were declared dead on arrival. All deaths were backdated. 

The deaths were in Kelantan (2), Pahang (2), Johor (1), Negri Sembilan (1) and Terengganu (1).

No new deaths was reported in Kedah, Malacca, Perak, Perlis, Penang, Sabah, Sarawak, Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya. 

The local virus mortality rate was at 0.3% while the two-week average for deaths by infection was 37 per 10 million people. – February 3, 2022.