Health DG: New cases outnumber recoveries

Staying safe PLUS Malaysia has launched Safety Day, which highlights its SayHeart PLUS health programme aimed at boosting a health and safety culture among its 3,800 employees nationwide. Launched virtually by Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin (right), the event was witnessed by PLUS managing director Datuk Azman Ismail and chief operating officer Datuk Zakaria Ahmad Zabidi.

KUALA LUMPUR: The number of new Covid-19 cases outnumbered recoveries.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the ministry’s daily Covid-19 update recorded 4,896 new cases to 4,676 recoveries yesterday.

Of the new cases, 18 were imported. Cumulatively, the country now has 2,654,474 cases and 2,561,230 recoveries.

“There are 490 cases requiring intensive care treatment. It comprises 358 Covid-19 cases while the remaining 132 are suspected, probable or still under investigation,” he said in a statement, adding that 269 cases required ventilator support.

“Of the new 4,896 daily cases, 79 cases (1.6%) were from Categories Three, Four and Five while 4,817 cases (98.4%) were from Categories One and Two,” he said.

Category One means a patient is asymptomatic. Category Two is for those with mild symptoms.

Category Three cases experience pneumonia, while cases in Category Four have pneumonia and require oxygen. Patients in Category Five are listed as critical and require ventilator support.

The latest data by the Health Ministry also showed that the Covid-19 infectivity rate or R-nought (Rt) in Malaysia was 0.97 with Perlis showing the highest at 1.16, followed by Selangor and Kuala Lumpur at 1.01 each while Johor, Penang and Kedah registered 0.99 each. The state with the lowest Rt was Sarawak (0.73).