KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 30 ― The number of new Covid-19 infections dropped by 17.9 per cent to 18,715 cases in the 34th Epidemiology Week (ME 34/2022) from August 21 to 27.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said a total of 60 death cases were recorded during the same period, an increase of 7.1 per cent from the previous week.

"The number of recovered cases in ME34 decreased by 5.4 per cent from 26,458 cases to 25,037 cases.

"The average number of active daily cases during ME 34 was 36,179, down by 13.9 per cent from ME33,” he said in a statement on the latest Covid-19 situation, today.

In the meantime, admissions of Covid-19 patients into public hospitals and Covid-19 Quarantine and Treatment Centres (PKRCs) per 100,000 population for Categories 1 and 2 dropped by 15.8 per cent, while for Categories 3, 4 and 5, 15.2 per cent.

Dr Noor Hisham also said that the percentage of Covid-19 bed occupancy in ME 34, namely for non-critical beds, intensive care unit beds and PKRCs, decreased by three per cent, two per cent and one per cent, respectively.

In addition, the number of Covid-19 patients requiring respiratory assistance reduced by 0.3 per cent compared to the previous week.

According to the statement, there was a drop in the number of positive cases monitored by the Covid-19 Assessment Centre (CAC) nationwide.

"The number of patient visits to CAC decreased by 13 per cent; new Covid-19 cases undergoing home monitoring dropped by 19.5 per cent, and the number of Covid-19 cases referred by CAC to hospitals decreased by 26 per cent,” he said, adding that the infectivity rate or Rt also showed a drop of 5.3 per cent in ME34.

Meanwhile, the surveillance at sentinel locations nationwide found 140 samples of Influenza-like Illness (ILI) to be Covid-19 positive at the rate of 15.5 per cent. In contrast, no samples of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) were found to be Covid-19 positive, with the rate remaining at zero per cent during ME34. ― Bernama