Malaysia records major drop in new Covid-19 cases with 26,250 infections, 77 deaths

KUALA LUMPUR, March 13 — The Health Ministry reported 26,250 new Covid-19 infections in the last 24 hours, a decrease from the 32,800 cases the day before.

This brings the cumulative infections to 3,801,036 from the time Covid-19 arrived in the country in 2020, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a statement today.

The latest number of people who recovered came to 25,089, raising the cumulative recovered cases to 3,443,532.

Dr Noor Hisham said 77 deaths were reported yesterday including 23 brought-in-dead cases. 

As of today, a total 33,720 people have died of the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic. 

Dr Noor Hisham disclosed that only 177 or 0.67 per cent of cases reported today were in Categories 3, 4 and 5 that required hospitalisation while the rest were reported with mild symptoms.

“There are currently 367 patients being treated in intensive care units (ICU), of which 198 are suspected, probable or under investigation for Covid-19.

“Out of these 367, 211 need ventilators to help them breathe, including 100 who are confirmed as Covid-19 positive,” he said.

Dr Noor Hisham said six states are currently using more than 50 per cent of their ICU bed capacity.

They are: Putrajaya (167 per cent), Kelantan (69 per cent), Johor (68 per cent), Kuala Lumpur (65 per cent), Selangor (58 per cent) and Perak (53 per cent).

There are 12 states with over 50 per cent of non-ICU beds used for Covid-19 patients. They are: Selangor (109 per cent), Kuala Lumpur (95 per cent), Terengganu, Perlis and Perak (91 per cent each), Putrajaya (86 per cent), Sarawak (78 per cent), Kelantan (76 per cent), Melaka (74 per cent), Johor (62 per cent), Pahang (58 per cent), and Penang (56 per cent).

As for Covid-19 quarantine centres, Melaka is the only state that currently has more than 50 per cent of its beds utilised.

Dr Noor Hisham said the number of Covid-19 patients in need of respiratory aid has decreased to 211 people.

Overall, he said the current percentage of ventilator use stands at 24 per cent for both patients with Covid-19 and those without.

He also mentioned that two Covid-19 clusters were detected by the Health Ministry in the past 24 hours.