Covid-19: Over 99% of new cases in Categories 1 and 2, says Health DG

PETALING JAYA: Most of the 21,483 new Covid-19 cases detected on Tuesday (March 22) are in Categories 1 and 2, says Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hosham Abdullah.

He said in a statement on Wednesday (March 23) that 10,455 cases (48.67%) were in Category 1 while 10,862 (50.56%) were in Category 2.

“Fifty-seven cases (0.27%) were in Category 3, 46 cases (0.21%) in Category 4, and 63 cases (0.29%) in Category 5,” he added.

Dr Noor Hisham noted that of the 166 cases in Categories 3, 4 and 5, 51 involved those who were not vaccinated or had not completed their vaccination.

He added that 64 cases had received two doses of a vaccine but had not obtained their booster shots while 51 had received their booster dose.

“A total of 1,339 cases were admitted to hospitals on Tuesday involving 553 in Categories 3 to 5 and 786 cases in Categories 1 and 2," said Dr Noor Hisham.

He said 32,561 recoveries were reported on Monday, taking the cumulative total to 3,745,229.

He added that three states or territories had critical ICU bed occupancy of more than 50%: Kuala Lumpur (70%), Johor (62%) and Selangor (60%).

The infectivity rate (Rt) in the country was at 0.91, with Sarawak recording the highest at 1.01 followed by Perak with 1.0.

Dr Noor Hisham also said the country detected four new clusters, bringing the total number to 6,918 with 284 still active.