ACTIVE Covid-19 cases in the country surged to 277,829 as Malaysia reported a record 31,199 new infections against 20,399 recoveries, health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said today.

The active load is likely to breach the 300,000 mark if new cases continue to outpace recoveries at the current trend. 

According to the CovidNow portal, of the active cases, 265,339 (95.5%) were in home quarantine, 4,460 (1.6%) in quarantine centres and 7,725 (2.8%) in hospital. 

Noor Hisham said that of the 31,199 new cases, only 194 or 0.62% of the cases were in the more severe categories of 3, 4 and 5. 

He said of them, 45 were either not vaccinated or did not complete their vaccination, while 108 have completed their two-dose course but have yet to get boosted. 

“Therefore, 153 in categories 3, 4 and 5 were either not vaccinated, did not complete their two-dose vaccination or not boosted,” Noor Hisham said in a statement today. 

Meanwhile, 31,005 cases were in the less severe asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic categories of 1 and 2.

Most cases were in category 2.

The breakdown by categories is as follows:

• Category 1: 10,171 cases (32.60%);
• Category 2: 20,834 (66.78%);
• Category 3: 102 (0.32%);
• Category 4: 46 (0.15%); and
• Category 5: 46 (0.15%).

Noor Hisham said a total of 1,804 patients were hospitalised, while 1,365 people were discharged as of yesterday. 

Of the admissions, 194 were in category 1; category 2 (989), category 3 (234), category 4 (354) and category 5 (33).

Selangor had most hospitalisations at 251, followed by Sabah (239) and election-bound Johor (237). 

Other states reporting new admissions were Perak (177), Kelantan (127), Pahang (126), Kedah (122), Penang (119), Negri Sembilan (106), Kuala Lumpur (104), Terengganu (67), Sarawak (40), Malacca (32), Perlis (29), Putrajaya (18) and Labuan (10). 

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

Kelantan had the highest ICU utilisation rate of 83%, followed by Kuala Lumpur (65%), Johor (65%), Malacca (58%) and Perlis (55%). 

On bed take-up rate specifically for Covid-19 cases, Noor Hisham said of the 12,029 beds made available nationwide for non-critical cases, 7,723 or 64% of it is currently in use. 

As for ICU, out of 838 beds available nationwide, 305 (36%) is currently taken up, while of 11,017 beds in low-risk quarantine centres, 4,486 (41%) are occupied. – February 24, 2022.