MALAYSIA logged 25,099 new Covid-19 infections yesterday, a drop in cases for the second straight day, director-general of health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said. 

The country has registered more than 20,000 daily cases for the past 11 days, and during this period, a record-high daily infections of 28,825 was reported on February 19. 

Overall, Malaysia has reported 3,246,779 cases since the onset of Covid-19.

There were also 43 deaths linked to the coronavirus yesterday. Of the figure, 13 were classified as dead on arrival (DOA).

The latest fatalities bring the Covid-19 death toll to 32,390.

Noor Hisham said that of the new infections, 24,999 cases were in the less severe categories of 1 and 2 while 100 cases were the more serious categories of 3, 4 and 5. 

Bulk of the new cases were in category 2. 

The breakdown of the new cases by categories is as follows:

Category 1: 7,763 cases (30.93%);

Category 2: 17,236 cases (68.67%);

Category 3: 56 cases (0.23%);

Category 4: 23 cases (0.09%); and

Category 5: 21 cases (0.08%). 

Of the new infections reported, Selangor logged the highest number of cases by any state or territory, at 5,535, followed by Sabah (4,770) and election-bound Johor (2,697).

Other states and territories reporting new cases are Kedah (2,486), Kelantan (1,900), Penang (1,752), Pahang (1,365), Negri Sembilan (1,325), Kuala Lumpur (866), Terengganu (607), Perak (465), Malacca (403), Sarawak (294), Labuan (260), Perlis (219) and Putrajaya (155). 

Meanwhile, of the new cases, 1,510 people were admitted to hospital yesterday. 

A total of 181 admissions were in category 1, category 2 (751), category 3 (235), category 4 (309) and category 5 (34). 

Johor, which will go to the polls on March 12, recorded the highest number of Covid-19 hospital admissions yesterday, at 227.

Although Selangor recorded the highest number of new infections, there were only 204 hospital admissions linked to the coronavirus. 

Covid-19 hospital admissions were also recorded in Sabah (186), Perak (169), Kelantan (132), Kedah (109), Kuala Lumpur (102), Pahang (89), Penang (81), Negri Sembilan (63), Terengganu (48), Sarawak (29), Perlis (27), Malacca (24), Putrajaya (17) and Labuan (3).

As for intensive care unit utilisation related to Covid-19, Noor Hisham said four states/territories have breached the 50% mark.  

They are Johor (70%), Kelantan (61%), Kuala Lumpur (58%) and Malacca (54%).

Active cases are at 258,985. Of them, 245,875 (94.9%) are in home quarantine, 5,055 (2%) in quarantine centres and 7,783 (3%) in hospital.  

Of the 43 Covid-19 deaths, Johor and Selangor recorded 10 each. 

Seven deaths were reported in Kedah, five in Sabah, two each in Kelantan, Pahang and Penang, and one each in Malacca, Negri Sembilan, Sarawak, Terengganu and Kuala Lumpur. 

No Covid-19-linked deaths were reported in Perak, Perlis, Labuan and Putrajaya. 

The 13 DOA cases were reported in Selangor and Kedah (4 each), Johor, Kelantan, Penang, Sabah and Sarawak (1 each). – February 22, 2022.