Covid-19: Seven new cases detected among flood victims on Saturday (Jan 1), says Health DG

PETALING JAYA: A total of 451 Covid-19 cases were detected among flood victims, with seven new cases identified on Saturday (Jan 1), says the Health Ministry.

Eighty-six flood relief centres (PPS) are in operation across the country - 41 in Pahang, 19 in Johor, ten in Negri Sembilan, five in Kelantan, five in Melaka, four in Trengganu and two in Sabah.

According to Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah in the ministry’s daily Covid-19 and flood update, across the country there were 3,386 new Covid-19 cases recorded and 3,547 recoveries.

Malaysia’s cumulative Covid-19 case number now stands at 2,761,472. However, there were also a total of 2,688,925 recoveries to date.

There are 273 cases requiring treatment in intensive care units (ICU). They comprise 202 Covid-19 cases while the remaining 71 cases are suspected, probable or still under investigation. 159 cases require ventilator support.

Dr Noor Hisham said that of the new 3,386 daily cases, 46 cases (1.4 %) were from categories 3, 4 and 5 while 3,340 cases (98.6%) were from categories 1 and 2.

Category 1 means a patient is asymptomatic. Category 2 is for those with mild symptoms. Category 3 cases experience pneumonia while cases in Category 4 have pneumonia and require oxygen. Category 5 patients are in a critical stage requiring ventilator support.

Of the new cases, 346 were imported cases while 3,040 were local infections.

The total number of active clusters is now 215. There were five new clusters.

The latest data by the Health Ministry also showed that the Covid-19 infectivity rate or R-naught (Rt) in Malaysia was 0.98, with Kelantan registering the highest at 1.02, followed by Terengganu, Johor, and Melaka (all 0.97). The states with the lowest recorded Rt were Labuan (0.82) and Sarawak (0.75).