Covid-19: Another 89 clusters reported in one week, says Health DG

PETALING JAYA: A total of 89 new clusters were reported in the fifth epidemiological week (ME) from Jan 30 to Feb 5, says Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham.

“This brought the total number of active clusters to 353 which is a 21.3% increase compared to the previous corresponding period,” said the Health director-general.

Of the 89 clusters, 52 were from educational institutions, 20 from workplaces, seven from within the community, six within high risk groups, three from detention centres and one from religious activities.

Dr Noor Hisham said a total of 43,062 new Covid-19 cases were recorded from Jan 30 to Feb 5, a 34.7% increase compared to the previous week.

“There was however an 8.1% decrease in the number of deaths while the number of current active cases stands at 58,099.

“The number of recoveries also showed an increase of 15.6%,” he said on Tuesday (Feb 8).

Dr Noor Hisham added that the total number of cases requiring treatment in intensive care units (ICU) also showed a decreasing trend for the past 12 weeks while the number of cases requiring respiratory assistance showed a decrease for the past 24 weeks.

However, the average national infectivity rate or Rt, increased by 1.15%, from between 1.13-1.16 on the fifth ME and was expected to increase in week six.

The national Rt currently stands at 1.32 with all states except Labuan having an Rt of over 1. Labuan’s Rt is 0.00

The states Rt are Sabah and Perlis (1.54), Sarawak (1.48), Terengganu (1.36), Kedah (1.32), Putrajaya (1.29), Penang (1.25) Johor and Pahang (1.24), Selangor, Perak and Melaka (1.23) followed by Kelantan (1.16), Negeri Sembilan (1.12) and Kuala Lumpur (1.09).