New COVID-19 cases drop 58.3 per cent last week - Health DG

KUALA LUMPUR: The number of new COVID-19 cases in Malaysia for the 18th epidemiological week (ME18) from May 1 to 7 dropped 58.3 per cent, to 8,732 cases from 20,937 cases the week before, said Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

He said during the same period, local cases dropped by 58.3 per cent or 20,876 cases to 8,703 cases and imported ones dropped by 52.5 per cent or 61 cases to 29 cases.

This brings the cumulative figure for COVID-19 cases in Malaysia to 4,456,736, with 23,276 being active cases.

"Recoveries in ME18 dropped by 45.1 per cent or 56,352 cases to 30,930 cases compared to ME17, and the cumulative total of recovered individuals is 4,397,881.

"The number of deaths in ME18 dropped by 42.9 per cent (56 cases to 32 cases) compared to ME17, bringing the cumulative figure for fatalities to 35,579," he said in a statement today.

The number of COVID-19 patients admitted to public hospitals and COVID-19 Quarantine and Treatment Centres (PKRC) per population of 100,000 dropped by 27 per cent for the same ME compared to the previous period.

"The admission of COVID-19 cases to public hospitals per population of 100,000 dropped by 50 per cent involving all categories of patients.

"Overall, bed occupancy for non-critical COVID-19 cases dropped by 21 per cent, for Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds it dropped by 20 per cent and for PKRC beds it dropped by 100 per cent," he added.

-- BERNAMA