PETALING JAYA: The health ministry reported 26,701 Covid-19 cases yesterday. It also said there were 1,469 new hospital admissions.
Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said of the 26,701 new cases, only 118, or 0.44%, were in Categories 3, 4 or 5 at the time of diagnosis.
The total number of infections now stands at 3,138,215.
In a statement, he said 11,744 patients had recovered, bringing the total number of recoveries to 2,888,194.
He also said there were 19 clusters reported yesterday.
Yesterday’s cases comprised 26,569 local infections, involving 25,919 Malaysians and 650 foreigners, and 132 imported ones.
Of these, 216 were being treated in intensive care units (ICU), with 98 Covid-19 positive and 118 suspected of being infected. They included 141 requiring respiratory assistance, with 55 positive and the remaining suspected of being infected.
As of yesterday, 7,119 non-critical Covid-19 beds in hospitals were being utilised by Covid-19 patients and persons under investigation, or 62% of the total capacity. ICUs were at 26% of their total capacity of 828 beds.
Of the 1,469 patients who were hospitalised yesterday, 947 were in Category 1 and 2 while 522 were in Category 3, 4 and 5.
Malaysia’s Covid-19 infectivity rate (R-nought or R0) stood at 1.32, with Labuan having the highest reading of 1.96, followed by Sarawak (1.56), Sabah (1.51), Penang (1.41), Kedah (1.40), Terengganu (1.36), Kelantan (1.36), Negeri Sembilan (1.36), Perlis (1.35), Selangor (1.33), Pahang (1.30), Kuala Lumpur (1.30), Johor (1.28), Putrajaya (1.25), Perak (1.24) and Melaka (1.21).
Noor Hisham also said there had been 18,277 cases of pregnant mothers contracting Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic, or 0.64% of the total cases reported.
One hundred and ninety-one pregnant mothers had died from Covid-19 complications in 2020 and 2021, of whom 79% were not vaccinated while 83% had comorbidities.
There have been no reports of pregnant mothers dying from Covid-19 complications this year.
“One of the main factors that contributed to the decline in deaths of pregnant mothers due to Covid-19 complications is the high vaccination rate among adults,” he said.
“Up until the end of October, 94% of pregnant mothers had received at least one dose of the vaccine, while 91% had received two doses.”
He urged all pregnant mothers to get vaccinated and to go for their booster shots to lower the risk of complications if they contract Covid-19, and to take preventive action like only going out when necessary.
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