New Covid-19 cases remain below 3,000

PETALING JAYA: The health ministry has reported 2,690 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, continuing a downward trend below the 3,000 mark.

The ministry had reported 2,882 new cases on Sunday, a drop from the 3,386 new cases reported on Saturday.

In a statement, health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said there had been a downward trend in the number of deaths reported (18.2%), average usage of ICU beds (18.4%), as well as in the average usage of respiratory equipment (30.4%) in the week of Dec 26 to Jan 1.

However, a slight increase of 2.3% in the number of new cases was reported in that week.

No new cases were detected today at flood relief centres, and the total number of flood victims who contracted the virus remains at 15.

The total number of infections now stands at 2,767,044.

He said 3,535 patients had recovered, bringing the total number of recoveries to 2,695,751.

A total of 265 patients remain in intensive care, 188 of whom were confirmed Covid-19 positive and 77 suspected of being infected.

Meanwhile, 147 patients require respiratory assistance, with 81 patients Covid-19 positive and the remaining 66 suspected of being positive.

There were 2,390 local infections today, involving 2,317 Malaysians and 73 foreigners, and 300 imported cases.

Of these, only 1.9% of patients were in Category 3, 4 or 5 at the time of diagnosis.

Noor Hisham also said three clusters were reported today.

Malaysia’s Covid-19 infectivity rate remained at 0.99, with Johor having the highest R-nought level of 1.01 followed by Kelantan (1.00), and the remaining states and federal territories below 1.00.

Noor Hisham said the number of new clusters rose to 32 in the final week of 2021, compared to the 24 detected the week before; a majority of it comprising those reported at the workplace or imported ones. — Free Malaysia Today