KUALA LUMPUR: Admissions of COVID-19 patients to health facilities per 100,000 population dropped 8.6 per cent in the third epidemiological week 2023 (ME 3/2023) from Jan 15 to 21 compared to the previous week, said Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

He said admissions of categories one to five patients to public hospitals per 100,000 population last week also declined by 28.6 per cent from ME 2/2023.

"The utilisation rates of non-critical and ICU beds decreased by two per cent respectively in ME 3/2023 compared to the previous week," he said in a statement today.

Dr Noor Hisham said there was also a decline in the number of positive cases monitored by COVID-19 Assessment Centres (CAC) nationwide.

According to him, Malaysia's cumulative COVID-19 infections from Jan 25, 2020, to Jan 21, 2023, stood at 5,034,521, while cumulative recoveries were 4,987,642 cases.

The cumulative figure for COVID-19 fatalities was 36,932 cases, and the total clusters were 7,169 with five active clusters, he added.

Dr Noor Hisham said the total number of recovered cases in ME 3/2023 dropped by 27.6 per cent (3,288 cases to 2,379 cases), while the number of new infections decreased by 17.3 per cent (2,525 cases to 2,088 cases) from the previous week.

The number of local cases dropped by 17.1 per cent (2,497 cases to 2,071 cases), while imported cases were down by 39.3 per cent from 28 cases to 17 cases.

As for COVID-19-related fatalities, Dr Noor Hisham said the figure decreased 29.4 per cent (34 cases to 24 cases) and the average daily active cases for ME 3/2023 recorded a 7.9 per cent drop from 10,901 cases to 10,042 cases compared with the previous week.

He said the surveillance at sentinel locations nationwide up till ME3/2023 found 17 Influenza Like Illness (ILI) samples to be positive, while Severe Acute Respiratory Infection samples testing positive for Covid-19 was 5.9 per cent.

-- BERNAMA