Most patients in ICUs need ventilator, says Health DG

PETALING JAYA: More than half of Covid-19 patients in intensive care units (ICU) are facing breathing difficulties and require ventilator assistance, says Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

“A total of 345 cases require treatment at the ICUs where 175 need ventilator assistance, ” he said.

His revelation came as 3,418 new Covid-19 infections were reported yesterday, bringing the total number of remaining active cases in the country to 30,339.

Of the new cases, he said 3,134 involved Malaysians while 274 were foreigners.

He noted that Selangor recorded the highest number of new Covid-19 infections with 1,200 cases.

“Of the cases in Selangor, 908 were from clusters and screenings of close contacts done in the field.

“Sarawak has the second highest number of infections with 587 cases, followed by Kelantan with 400, ” he said in a statement yesterday.

He said 10 imported cases were also recorded involving one local and nine foreigners.

A total of 12 deaths involving locals were also recorded, bringing the total number of deaths to 1,533.

He said the country’s cumulative total of cases recorded were 415,012, with 383,140 patients who had since recovered.

There were 2,698 recoveries yesterday, bringing the cumulative recoveries to 92.3%, he added.

Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham said 11 new clusters were detected in the country, bringing the number of active clusters to 396.

Of the new clusters, he said five were from the community, four from the education sector and two from workplaces.

He said 85 clusters showed increases in new cases with the Saujana cluster recording 153 cases, followed by Sungai Daun cluster (102) and Sungai Ranan cluster (33).