KUALA LUMPUR: The number new COVID-19 infections in the country for the 21st Epidemiology Week (ME 21) which began from May 22 to 28 saw a fall of 4.1 per cent to 13,076 cases compared to 13,630 cases the week before (ME 20).

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the development brought the cumulative COVID-19 cases in Malaysia to 4,502,579 cases.

"The average rate of COVID-19 infectivity (Rt) also showed a fall of 1.1 per cent to 0.93 compared to 0.94 the week earlier," he said in a statement today.

He said the number of recoveries in ME 21 also showed a rise of 4.2 per cent (15,278 cases to 15,925 cases) compared to ME 20 which takes the cumulative recovery cases to 4,441,702.

Dr Noor Hisham said the number of deaths in ME 21 also dropped 34.5 per cent to 19 cases compared with 29 cases the week before, taking the cumulative deaths to 35,660.

Meanwhile, he said the admission of COVID-19 patients into health facilities namely hospitals and Low Risk COVID-19 Quarantine and Treatment Centres (PKRC) for each 100,000 residents also came down by 10 per cent for the same ME compared to the earlier week.

" There was no change to COVID-19 patient admission into public hospital for each 100,000 people. The total cases requiring respiratory assistance reduced by 6.1 per cent.

"On the overall, bed occupancy at PKRC was not critical and the rate was unchanged while bed occupancy at intensive care unit (ICU) rose by 17 per cent," he said.

Dr Noor Hisham said COVID-19 positive cases monitored by the COVID-19 Assessment Centre (CAC) nationwide also fell with patients visiting CAC down by 5.1 per cent and the number of new COVID-19 cases undergoing monitoring at home shrinking by 6.5 per cent.

The number of COVID-19 cases referred by CAC to PKRC or hospitals also dropped drastically to 46.6 per cent, he said.

-- BERNAMA