COVID: Malaysia is only in transition to endemic phase; adhere to SOP - Health DG

In this regard, Dr Noor Hisham said the standard operating procedures (SOPs) set should be practised to ensure that Malaysia can move to the next phase safely.

He said during the transition phase to endemic, the community needed to learn to live with the COVID-19 virus in conditions that were least disruptive to daily life by adopting public health measures to protect themselves, their families and the community.

"The management of the COVID-19 pandemic needs to shift from reliance on government interventions such as SOPs and existing laws to individual responsibility, and community solidarity," he said in a statement today.

On the number of new COVID-19 cases, Dr Noor Hisham said the country continued to record below 20,000 cases for five consecutive days with 18,560 cases reported yesterday, bringing the cumulative number of new cases to 4,201,919.

He said of the total new cases, 18,435 COVID-19 cases or 99.33 per cent were in categories one and two while less than one per cent, at 0.67 per cent, or 125 cases were in categories three, four and five.

"A total of 18,253 recovered cases were recorded yesterday, bringing the cumulative recoveries to date to 3,960,082.

According to Dr Noor Hisham, no new COVID-19 clusters were reported yesterday and a total of 198 clusters were still active thus far.

He said the COVID-19 infectivity rate was 0.87 nationwide, with Selangor recording the highest rate at 1.06 while the lowest rate was reported in Sabah at 0.64.

Three states recorded the use of critical or Intensive Care Units (ICU) beds above 50 per cent with the highest in Kuala Lumpur at 57 per cent, followed by Perlis (55 per cent), and Selangor (50 per cent).