Covid death toll now 24,681 with 116 newly reported fatalities

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia’s Covid-19 death toll has reached 24,681 after the Health Ministry reported 116 more coronavirus deaths on Thursday (Sept 23).

Based on the ministry’s Github data repository, one out of the 116 deaths occurred on Thursday.

The rest were backlogged cases in June and before (one), July (seven), August (32) and September (75).

Of the reported deaths on Thursday, 29 were fatalities classified as “brought-in-dead” (BID) cases.

This brings the total of BID cases in the country up to 4,838.

Based on the latest graphs on the ministry’s CovidNow website, the country’s death cases were still on a declining trend.

The average number of deaths in the last seven days - based on actual date of death - was 92.

This was a decline from early August, when the average was around 300 death cases a day.

Out of the 116 reported deaths on Thursday, 50 of them were Klang Valley cases.

The rest were in Penang (20), Sarawak (14), Kelantan (10), Sabah (eight), Melaka (seven), Perak (six) and Kedah (one).

Putrajaya, Johor, Negri Sembilan, Pahang, Perlis, Terengganu, Labuan had no new reported deaths.

On Thursday, Malaysia reported 13,750 new Covid-19 cases and 16,628 recoveries.

Recoveries had outnumbered new cases for seven days in a row.

Active Covid-19 cases in the country continue to go down, with the latest number at 198,284 - a further reduction of 2,990 from the previous day.

Of the total active cases, 165,421 or 83.4% were patients with mild infections and were undergoing home quarantine.

Another 21,350 (10.8%) were those under isolation at low-risk quarantine centres (PKRC), while 10,396 (5.2%) were hospitalised.

There were 1,117 (0.6%) patients in intensive care units (ICU), including 615 (0.3%) who were on ventilators.

The national ICU utilisation rate was currently at 75.9%.

With 75 ICU beds utilised in Penang, the state’s ICU utilisation rate was at 99.2% - the highest in the country.

The Klang Valley’s ICU rate was at 78%.

States with ICU usage rate below 60% were Melaka (56.2%), Negri Sembilan (40.9%) and Labuan (26.1%).