KUCHING, Sept 12 — Less than half a million of Malaysia’s eligible population have taken the Covid-19 second booster dose as of yesterday.

According to the Ministry of Health’s CovidNow website, only 1.5 per cent or 483,961 eligible individuals across the nation have been given the second booster jab.

A total of 598 eligible persons nationwide were administered the second booster dose yesterday.

Nearly 50 per cent of the country’s population has been given the first booster dose.

The website said 49.7 per cent or 16,225,084 individuals across the country had taken their first booster jab.

Yesterday, 257 individuals received the first booster dose.

In Sarawak, only 1.5 per cent or 42,768 individuals have been administered the second booster dose, while 65 eligible persons took the jab yesterday.

The state recorded a 56 per cent vaccination rate for the first booster dose, which translated into 1,581,694 individuals, while 12 people were given the first booster yesterday.

Malaysia recorded 1,483 new Covid-19 infections yesterday, bringing the cumulative total of cases to 4,805,107.

There were still 26,339 active cases nationwide, as of yesterday.

In Sarawak, 86 new cases were recorded yesterday, with the total infections standing at 313,907.

As of yesterday, there were still 901 active cases in the state.

Meanwhile, the intensive care unit (ICU) bed utilisation rate for Covid-19 patients in Sarawak was 52.9 per cent yesterday.

This was below the national rate of 62.1 per cent.

Other states and territories that recorded ICU bed usage rates below the national rate included Perak (60.2 per cent), Kuala Lumpur (58.7 per cent), Sabah (58 per cent), Putrajaya (55 per cent), Pahang (51.8 per cent), Terengganu (50 per cent), Melaka (47.4 per cent), and Penang (45.9 per cent).

Perlis had the lowest ICU bed utilisation rate at 26.3 per cent. — Borneo Post