Health DG: Covid-19 patient admissions to health facilities decreased by 15%

PETALING JAYA: The number of Covid-19 patient admissions to health facilities such as hospitals and Covid-19 Quarantine and Treatment Centre (PKRC) per 100,000 population has decreased by 15%, says the Health Ministry.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said there is a 15% decrease on epidemiological week 17 as compared to the previous week.

“The total number Covid-19 patient admissions to public hospitals per 100,000 population had decreased by 20%.

“The number of Category 1 and 2 patients has decreased by 33%, while there is no difference in the number of patients for Categories 3, 4 and 5.

“The percentage of bed usage at Covid-19 facilities decreased compared to the previous week, with the number of non-critical beds used decreased by 22%; use of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds by as much as 8% and the use of Covid-19 PKRC decreased by 75%.

“The number of cases requiring a respirator decreased by 11%,” he said in a statement on Monday (May 2).

Dr Noor Hisham added that the monitoring of Covid-19 positive cases is carried out through the Covid-19 Assessment Centre (CAC) throughout the country.

“The number of patients visiting the CAC had decreased by 37.1%; the number of new Covid-19 cases undergoing home monitoring had decreased by 34.7%; and the number of Covid-19 cases referred by CAC to PKRC or hospitals had decreased by 33.8%,” he said.

Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham said the number of recoveries on epidemiological week 17 had decreased by 21.9% (from 72,128 cases to 56,352 cases).

“The number of new Covid-19 cases have decreased by 53.1% (from (44,665 cases to 20,937 cases).

“The number of local cases had decreased by 52.8% (from 44,193 cases to 20,876 cases); and the number of imported cases decreased by 87.1% (from 472 cases to 61 cases).

“The number of deaths have decreased by 31.7 % (from 82 cases to 56 cases), whereas the number of active cases has decreased by 35.3% (from 637,626 cases to 412,555 cases),” he said, adding that the average RT value had decreased by 15.7%.

Dr Noor Hisham also urged the public to continue to be vigilant and not let their guard down, especially during the Hari Raya Aidilfitri festive season.