KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysians need to brave the Covid-19 Omicron variant storm together by complying with all public health and social measures, says Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
In a Twitter post on Wednesday (Feb 16), he said many countries in the region are seeing an upward trend in Covid-19 cases.
“Please get vaccinated and get your booster dose to protect yourself and your loved ones,” he said.
Malaysia recorded 27,831 new Covid-19 cases Wednesday, the highest daily figure since the first case was reported in January 2020.
Of the total, 7,606 cases (27.33%) are in category one, 20,128 cases (72.32%) in category two; 59 cases (0.21%) in category three; 28 cases (0.10%) in category four and 10 cases (0.04%) in category five.
In another tweet, Dr Noor Hisham said while most patients were in the lower categories when they were first tested or diagnosed, for example, 99.65% were in categories one and two.
The condition of some patients deteriorated and they ended up in the higher categories over the next few days, including requiring admissions to the Covid-19 Quarantine and Treatment Centre (PKRC) or hospitals.
He said as of 5pm Wednesday, a total of 1,269 new cases were hospitalised, of which 428 cases (33.7%) were in categories three, four and five.
“A total of 841 cases or 66.3% are in categories one and two,” he said.
According to Dr Noor Hisham, the number of Covid-19 patients in non-ICU and ICU beds had increased while that in the PKRC had decreased Wednesday compared to Tuesday (Feb 15).
He added that the usage of ICU beds for Covid-19 cases in two states was over 50%, namely Johor with 61% and the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur at 51%.
As for PKRC, he said Melaka recorded a 100% bed utilisation rate, followed by Selangor (82%).
Nine states recorded over 50% bed utilisation rate, namely Negeri Sembilan (79%), Pahang (71%), Kelantan (67%), Sabah (64%), Johor (63%), Kedah (62%) and Perak (56%). – Bernama