New COVID-19 cases increase to 21,483 - Health DG

KUALA LUMPUR: After declining to below the 20,000 mark for five consecutive days, new COVID-19 cases in Malaysia increased to 21,483 yesterday, said Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

Of the total, he said 1,339 COVID-19 cases were admitted to the hospital, with 553 cases or 41.3 per cent involving categories three to five, while 786 cases or 58.7 per cent comprised categories one and two.

"A total of 32,561 recovered cases were reported yesterday, bringing the cumulative number of recoveries to 3,745,229," he said in a statement today.

Meanwhile, three states showed more than 50 per cent usage of ICU beds, namely Kuala Lumpur (70 per cent); Johor (62 per cent) and Selangor (60 per cent).

He said 209 cases required ventilators, taking the utilisation rate to 24 per cent.

On the infectivity rate in the country, he said the R-Naught (Rt) value decreased to 0.91, with Sarawak registering the highest value at 1.01 followed by Perak at 1.00.

-- BERNAMA