KUALA LUMPUR: The number of new COVID-19 cases remained below the 15,000 mark for two days in a row with 12,380 cases reported on Sunday (April 3), bringing the case tally in the country to 4,246,467, said Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

On Saturday (April 2), 14,692 cases were reported.

Dr Noor Hisham said of the new cases recorded yesterday, 7,559 were in category one, 4,736 (category two), 32 (category three), 20 (category four) and 33 in category five, the most severe category.

"Of the 85 cases that comprised categories three to five, 24 were not vaccinated or not fully vaccinated, 33 had received two doses of vaccine but not the booster dose, while 28 had received booster shots," he said in a statement here today.

He added that 20,635 recoveries from the virus were reported yesterday, bring cumulative recoveries in the country to 4,018,421 cases.

At the same time, Dr Noor Hisham said out of the number of new cases yesterday, 253 required treatment in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), while 157 required respiratory support.

On utilisation of specialised health facilities for COVID-19 cases, he said Kuala Lumpur and Selangor recorded ICU bed occupancy of 50 per cent or more as of yesterday, at 60 per cent and 50 per cent respectively.

He said that as for bed occupancy at COVID-19 Low-Risk Quarantine and Treatment Centres (PKRC), no state recorded usage exceeding 50 per cent, while patients needing respirators increased to 157, bringing respirator usage at the facilities to18 per cent.

According to Dr Noor Hisham, 562 COVID-19 cases were admitted to hospitals yesterday with 220 being in categories three, four and five, while the rest in categories one and two.

The national infectivity rate or Rt value stood at 0.85 yesterday with Selangor still recording the highest rate of 1.05 and Kelantan the lowest, at 0.69.

-- BERNAMA