THE Covid-19 death toll has reached 32,000 with the Ministry of Health logging eight new fatalities today.

All the deaths were backlog cases. 

The ministry also reported that active Covid-19 cases in the country continue to rise, with 5,720 new infections against 3,968 recoveries yesterday, raising active cases nationwide to 61,426. 

The ministry noted that almost 90% of the active cases were in the less severe categories. 

Of the total active cases, 53,805 patients were in home quarantine, 4,209 were in low-risk quarantine centres and 3,298 were in hospitals.

There were 905 Covid-19 admissions yesterday. The national hospital utilisation rate increased to 62.3% yesterday from 60.8% the day before, while the coronavirus take-up rate was at 33.7%. 

Ventilator utilisation was at 33.2%, while intensive care unit occupancy was at 49.2%, of which 13.4% were taken up by coronavirus 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.

Johor, which will soon hold its state polls, posted the highest number of admissions by any state or territory at 219, followed by Selangor (208) and Sabah (125). 

Other states reporting new admissions were Kelantan (76), Negri Sembilan (63), Perak (55), Kedah (28), Sarawak (27), Kuala Lumpur (25), Penang (21), Malacca (14), Pahang (13), Perlis (12), Terengganu (9), Putrajaya (6) and Labuan (4).

Meanwhile, Malacca posted the highest hospital bed utilisation rate of 76.1%, which includes non-Covid cases.

Of the 5,720 new cases, 1,965 or 34.4% were from the Klang Valley, comprising Selangor (1,563), Kuala Lumpur (358) and Putrajaya (44).

Other states and territories recording new cases were Johor (932), Kedah (486), Sabah (476), Penang (387), Pahang (330), Malacca (301), Kelantan (258), Perak (218), Negri Sembilan (210), Terengganu (100), Perlis (32), Sarawak (20) and Labuan (5). 

Meanwhile, there were three deaths Perak, two in Kedah, and one each in Johor, Kelantan and Pahang. 

The virus mortality rate was at 0.2%, while the two-week average for virus deaths stood at 31 per 10 million people. – February 4, 2022.