A TOTAL of 32,952 (99.39%) of the record breaking 33,209 Covid-19 infections logged yesterday were in categories 1 and 2, Health Director-General Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said. 

Only 203 (0.61%) of the cases were in the more serious categories of 3, 4 and 5. 

The breakdown of the cases by categories are as follows:

Category 1: 12,935 cases (38.95%)
Category 2: 20,071 cases (60.44%)
Category 3: 98 cases (0.30%)
Category 4: 52 cases (0.15%)
Category 5: 53 cases (0.16%)

With the record number of new cases outnumbering the 26,352 recoveries logged yesterday, active cases in the country rose to 305,010. 

According to the CovidNow portal, of the active cases, 292,696 (96%) were in home quarantine, 3,442 (1.1%) in quarantine centres and 8,524 (2.8%) in hospitals. 

Noor Hisham said a total of 1,997 coronavirus patients were admitted to hospitals yesterday, while 1,522 were discharged. 

Of the new admissions, 233 were in category 1, category 2 (1,043), category 3 (234), category 4 (430) and category 5 (57). 

“A total of 1,276 admissions yesterday were in categories 1 and 2, while 721 cases were in the more serious categories of 3, 4 and 5,” he said. 

Perak had the most number of hospitalisations at 251, followed by election-bound Johor (220).

Although Selangor reported the bulk of the new infections, the country’s most-populated state only had 214 cases admitted to hospital. 

Other states reporting new admissions were Penang (181), Kelantan (172), Pahang (150), Sabah (139), Kuala Lumpur (145), Kedah (138), Negri Sembilan (109), Terengganu (97), Sarawak (64), Malacca (48), Perlis (31), Putrajaya (26) and Labuan (12). 

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

Putrajaya, which has six ICU beds for Covid-19 patients, has maxed-out its ICU utilisation as all beds are now occupied.

After Putrajaya, Perlis has the highest ICU utilisation rate at 73%, followed by Selangor (61%), Kuala Lumpur (58%), Johor (57%), Perak (51%) and Kelantan (50%).

On bed take-up rate specifically for Covid-19 cases, Noor Hisham said of the 12,559 beds made available nationwide for non-critical cases, 8,530 or 68% of it is currently in use. 

As for ICU, out of the 879 beds available nationwide, 348 (40%) is currently taken up, while of 11,329 beds in low-risk quarantine centres, 3,442 (30%) are occupied. – March 5, 2022.