COVID: Almost 98 pct of new cases are category one, two patients - Health DG

KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 19,304 cases or 97.8 per cent of the 19,733 new COVID-19 cases today are either Category One - without symptoms, or Category Two (minor symptoms), said Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

He said the remaining 429 cases (2.2 per cent) were Category Three, Four and Five.

According to him, 12,483 cases of today's Category One and Two cases, as well as 331 cases from Category Three, Four and Five, had yet to complete their COVID-19 vaccinations or had no history of vaccination.

"This situation clearly shows that those who have completed their vaccinations are better protected and also have a lower risk of having a severe COVID-19 infection. This positive development will continue as Malaysia continues to achieve a higher rate of vaccination.

"Therefore, those who have yet to receive their vaccinations are advised to get vaccinated immediately to protect those around them from being infected by COVID-19," he said in a statement today.

He also advised Malaysians to continue to comply with the standard operating procedure (SOP) to reduce the risk of infection.

Dr Noor Hisham also stated that 91.3 per cent or 1,734,088 of the entire 1,900,467 COVID-19 positive cases in the country were those without any history of vaccination or those who have yet to complete their vaccinations.

Meanwhile, he said 361 deaths were reported today, 301 of them involving Malaysians adding that of the 102 brought-in dead cases, 71 were Malaysians.

Dr Noor Hisham said 22,701 patients recovered today, leaving 248,673 active cases in the country. Out of that, 904 patients are being treated in intensive care units, with 430 of them requiring respiratory support.

He said 35 new clusters were reported today, with 20 of them being workplace clusters, 11 community clusters, two high-risk group clusters and two education-related clusters.

The number of active clusters currently stands at 1,459, he added.

-- BERNAMA