THE number of new Covid-19 cases decreased by 16.9% to 15,549 cases in the 35th Epidemiological Week (ME 35/2022) from August 28 to September 3 against 18,715 in the week before.

Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said in the same period, 47 deaths were recorded, a decrease of 21.7% as opposed to the previous week.

“The number of recoveries in ME 35/2022 also dropped by 20.9%, from 25,037 to 19,813 cases.

“The average number of active cases per day for ME 35/2022 was 31,333, which is a decrease of 13.4% against the week before,” he said in a statement today on the country’s Covid situation.

Admissions to hospitals and public low-risk Covid-19 quarantine and treatment centres per 100,000 residents for patients in categories 1 and 2 saw a decrease of 9.4%, while categories 3, 4 and 5 saw a decrease of 3.6% in ME 35 /2022.

Noor Hisham said intensive care unit bed occupancy in ME 35/2022 increased by 1%, non-critical beds decreased by 1% while low-risk quarantine centre beds decreased by 2% compared with ME 34/2022

In addition, he said the percentage of Covid patients requiring respiratory assistance increased by 0.2% in ME 35/2022 against the week before.

He added that positive cases monitored by Covid-19 assessment centres (CAC) across the country also showed a decrease.

“The number of patient arrivals to CAC decreased by 21.4%, new cases that required monitoring at home decreased by 18.7% while cases referred by CAC to hospitals decreased by 24.9%,” he said.

He said the results of Covid surveillance at sentinel locations across the country found that a total of 101 influenza-like illness samples tested positive for Covid at a rate of 15.0% while severe acute respiratory infection samples testing positive for Covid was 1.6%. – Bernama, September 5, 2022.