KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has recorded a 15.5 per cent drop in the number of new COVID-19 cases for the epidemiological week 22 (ME 22), from May 29 to June 4, to 11,052 cases compared with 13,076 cases reported in the previous week (ME 21).

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the latest development brought the cumulative number of COVID-19 cases in the country to 4,513,631.

"The average daily active cases for the ME 22 is 23,290 cases, an 8.2 per cent drop compared with the previous week.

"The average infectivity rate (Rt value) also showed a 2.2 per cent drop at 0.91, compared with 0.93 reported in the previous week," he said in a statement today.

He said the number of recovered cases in the ME 22 also dropped by 13.4 per cent, from 15,925 cases to 13,797 cases in the ME 21, bringing the cumulative recoveries to 4,455,499.

Dr Noor Hisham said the number of deaths in the ME 22 showed a 36.8 per cent increase at 26 cases, compared with only 19 cases reported in the previous week, taking the cumulative deaths due to COVID-19 to 35,686.

Meanwhile, he said the admission of COVID-19 patients into health facilities, namely public hospitals and the COVID-19 Quarantine and Treatment Centres (PKRCs) per 100,000 population, has increased by 11 per cent for the ME 22 compared with ME 21.

"Nevertheless, there was no change to COVID-19 patient admission into public hospitals per 100,000 population for all categories. The number of cases requiring breathing aids has decreased by 17 per cent.

"On the overall, the non-critical bed occupancy has decreased by eight per cent and the bed occupancy at PKRC remained unchanged while the use of intensive care unit (ICU) beds dropped by 14 per cent," he said.

Dr Noor Hisham said COVID-19 positive cases monitored by the COVID-19 Assessment Centre (CAC) nationwide also dropped with patients visiting CAC down by 11.6 per cent and the number of new COVID-19 cases undergoing home monitoring fell by 17.8 per cent.

However, the number of COVID-19 cases referred by CAC to PKRC or hospitals has increased by 2.5 per cent, he said.

-- BERNAMA