Covid-19: Mild or asymptomatic infections reported in 98.2% of 5,516 new cases

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia reported 5,516 new cases of Covid-19 on Wednesday (Oct 20), of which 98.2% are mild and asymptomatic infections.

In his daily Covid-19 statement, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said cumulatively, Malaysia has recorded a total of 2,407,382 cases since the start of the pandemic.

“Of the 5,516 cases reported on Wednesday, 5,414 or 98.2% are Category One and Category Two infections.

“Another 102 cases or 1.8% are Category Three, Four and Five infections,” said Dr Noor Hisham.

There were 14 imported cases, while the rest were local transmissions.

Of the 5,502 locally-transmitted cases, 5,267 (95.7%) are Malaysians while 235 (4.3%) are foreigners.

Malaysia also discharged 9,401 more Covid-19 patients, bringing the total recoveries to 2,297,289 – a recovery rate of 95.4%.

There are now 669 patients in intensive care units (ICU) nationwide, of whom 572 are confirmed Covid-19 infections while 97 are suspected cases.

Some 333 patients are on ventilator support.

The country’s infectivity rate has been at an RT level of 0.88% for the last five days.

An RT of less than 1 means the infection is not spreading.

The Health Ministry also identified four new Covid-19 clusters.

Three are workplace outbreaks, while one involves an education institution.

Currently, there are 614 active clusters.