Covid-19: More cases due to Omicron but fewer deaths, ICU patients, says Khairy

Health Ministry Khairy Jamaluddin. – Bernama

PUTRAJAYA: The rise in the number of Covid-19 cases is caused by the Omicron wave but the number of deaths as well as those who need treatment in intensive care units (ICU) are lower.

Khairy said the number of deaths in epidemiology week 5 was 68, a 8.1% decline compared to the previous week.

Khairy also said that the number of cases in ICUs had also declined, with 91 cases between Jan 30 and Feb 5.

“This is 17% lower than the number of cases in ICU reported during epidemiology week 4,” he said in a press conference on Monday (Feb 7).

The last time Covid-19 cases reached five figures On Oct 2, there were 109 deaths, while there were nine deaths on Sunday (Feb 6).

Comparatively there were 404 patients in ICUs on Oct 2, and 96 patients on Feb 6.

“This shows that with vaccination, the number of cases with serious symptoms can be reduced.

“Those infected have mild symptoms compared to Covid-19 patients who were infected with the Delta variant,” he said.

Khairy had said on Sunday that Malaysia is in the midst of a wave of Covid-19 Omicron variant infections and the daily number of new cases would reach 15,000 soon.

Malaysia recorded 10,089 daily cases on Sunday, the first time it crossed the 10,000 mark since Oct 2 last year, when 10,915 cases were recorded.

The number of Covid-19 cases increased to 11,034 cases on Monday (Feb 7), bringing the total number of cumulative cases in the country to 2,925,254.