ONLY 214, or 0.64%, of yesterday’s record-breaking 33,406 Covid-19 cases were in the serious categories of 3, 4 and 5, director-general of health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said. 

He said the remaining 33,192 infections were in the least severe categories of 1 and 2. 

Nearly 60% of new infections were in category 2 and only 0.16% of cases were in category 5. 

“Of the 214 cases in the serious categories, 60 cases were either not vaccinated or had not completes their two doses; 101 cases completed two doses but have not taken a booster, while 53 cases had received their booster doses. 

“Also, 96 of them were aged above 60; 70 had comorbidities and one case involved a pregnant woman,” Noor Hisham said in a statement today. 

Active infections rose to 311,206 as the record number of new cases yesterday outnumbered 24,670 recoveries. 

According to the CovidNow portal, 298,532 (95.9%) of the active cases were in home quarantine, 3,588 (1.2%) in quarantine centres and 8,715 (2.8%) in hospitals.

Noor Hisham said 2,019 coronavirus patients were admitted to hospital yesterday while 1,521 were discharged. 

“A total of 772 admissions were in the serious categories of 3, 4 and 5, while 1,247 were in categories 1 and 2,” the health DG said. 

Selangor, which accounted for almost 30% of the new infections yesterday, had the highest number of admissions at 343.

Other states and territories reporting new admissions were Perak (249), Johor (239), Kedah (170), Penang (140), Kelantan (134), Sabah (127), Pahang (125), Kuala Lumpur (116), Negri Sembilan (116),Terengganu (75), Sarawak (70), Malacca (49), Perlis (27), Putrajaya (26) and Labuan (13). 

On intensive care unit utilisation (ICU) related to Covid-19, Noor Hisham said seven states or territories have breached the 50% mark.  Usage in Putrajaya was the highest at 83%, followed by Johor (65%), Kuala Lumpur (65%), Perlis (64%), Kelantan (63%), Selangor (62%) and Perak (55%).  

On the bed take-up rate for Covid-19 cases, Noor Hisham said of the 12,616 beds available for non-critical cases, 8,716, or 69% were occupied.

Of the 883 beds in ICU, 371 (42%) were occupied while 3,566 (31%) of the 11,329 beds in low-risk quarantine centres were in use. – March 6, 2022.