KUALA LUMPUR: The number of daily COVID-19 cases recorded Monday (March 14) continued to show a downward trend, with 22,030 new cases compared to 22,535 on Sunday.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said of the 22,030 cases recorded yesterday, 8,616 cases or 39.11 per cent were in category one, 13,188 cases or 59.86 per cent in category two while 226 cases or 1.03 per cent were in categories three, four and five.

In a statement today on daily developments of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, Dr Noor Hisham said that a total of 33,872 recoveries were reported, taking the cumulative total of recovered cases to 3,502,706.

He added 1,521 cases were hospitalised with 634 or 41.7 per cent of them being in categories three, four and five while 887 cases (58.3 per cent) were category one and two patients.

On COVID-19 bed occupancy for critical cases or in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the Ministry of Health hospitals, he stated that six states recorded more than 50 per cent usage yesterday, namely Kuala Lumpur (77 per cent), Kelantan (75 per cent), Johor (66 per cent), Selangor (62 per cent), Melaka (59 per cent), and Penang (51 per cent).

Meanwhile, he said there was a slight drop in COVID-19 patients who needed ventilator support, involving 215 patients or 25 per cent compared to 222 patients on Sunday.

On the country's infectivity rate (Rt), he said, it also recorded a slight drop to 0.96 compared to 0.97 on Sunday.

-- BERNAMA