Covid-19: Country's test positivity rate of 4.65% is within WHO benchmark, says Health DG

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s Covid-19 test positivity rate is 4.65%, within the World Health Organisation (WHO) threshold of 5% for adequate testing.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the 7,276 Covid-19 cases recorded on Tuesday was out of 156,567 tests conducted.

"The positivity rate is 4.65%, fulfilling the WHO’s benchmark of 5%. This shows that the number of Covid-19 tests conducted in the country is adequate and depicts the correct situation on the field," tweeted Dr Noor Hisham on Tuesday (Oct 12).

Positivity rate refers to the percentage of people who are Covid-19 positive out of the total tested.

On Tuesday, the country reported 7,267 cases, of which 97.9% (7,126 cases) were either mild or asymptomatic infections.

"Another 150 cases or 2.1% are Category 3, 4 and 5 infections," said Dr Noor Hisham in his daily statement.

The total of 7,276 cases reported Tuesday was the second-lowest daily figure in the last three months, only behind Monday’s 6,709 infections.

Cumulatively, the country had recorded 2,353,579 total infections since the pandemic began.

Malaysia also discharged 10,555 more Covid-19 patients, bringing the total recoveries to 2,215,057 or 94.2%.

There were now 724 patients in intensive care units (ICU) nationwide, down from 762 the previous day.

Some 398 patients were on ventilator support.

Other daily Covid-19 figures will only be updated on the ministry’s CovidNow website after midnight, including the breakdown of cases according to state as well as the number of deaths.

As of Monday (Oct 11) at 11.59pm, there are 112,379 active Covid-19 cases - a figure which continues to be on a downward trend.

Of the 112,379 active cases, nearly 80% are mild and asymptomatic patients who were undergoing isolation at home.

Some 13.7% are at low-risk quarantine centres, while 6.8% are hospitalised.

The number of patients in ICU are 0.7% out of all active cases.