KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia recorded another 30,787 Covid-19 cases on March 10, raising the total number of infections to date to 3,741,986.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said of the fresh cases, 608 were imported (564 Malaysians and 44 foreigners), while the remaining 30,179 were local transmissions (29,295 Malaysians and 884 foreigners).
From the 30,787 cases reported, he said 57 were in category 5 (0.19 per cent), 74 in category 4 (0.24 per cent), 93 in category 3 (0.30 per cent), 19,642 in category 2 (63.80 per cent) and 10,921 in category 1 (35.47 per cent).
"Of the 224 cases in Categories 3 to 5, 25.89 per cent or 58 patients were unvaccinated or have not been fully vaccinated, 94 patients (41.96 per cent) were fully immunised but not boosted, 72 cases (32.14 per cent) have been boosted, 122 cases (54.46 per cent) involved those aged 60 and above, 96 cases (42.86 per cent) have comorbidities and two cases (0.89 per cent) were pregnant mothers."
Dr Noor Hisham said a total 389 patients were admitted at ICUs and 229 required ventilator support.
He also said 26,457 patients have recovered and discharged on March 10.
Malaysia, he said registered four new clusters on March 10, which brings the number of active clusters to 419.
He added that the country's Rt value stands at 1.04 as of March 10.
"Sarawak registered the highest Rt at 1.37 followed by Kuala Lumpur (1.16), Terengganu (1.15), Perak (1.10), Negri Sembilan (1.07), Kedah (1.05), Selangor (1.04), Pahang (1.03), Melaka (1.02), Putrajaya (1.02), Perlis (1.00), Kelantan (0.98), Johor (0.97), Labuan (0.86) and Sabah (1.04)."
According to the Health Ministry's data shared on CovidNow, 96.1 per cent of active Covid-19 cases in the country were observing home quarantine.
Others were being treated at Covid-19 quarantine and treatment centres (PKRC) (one per cent), hospitalised (2.8 per cent) and the remaining 0.1 per cent were admitted to intensive care units (ICU).
Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham said occupancy rates at ICUs in six states were over 50 per cent on March 10.
He said Kelantan had the highest ICU occupancy rate at 79 per cent, followed by Johor (68 per cent), Putrajaya (67 per cent), Kuala Lumpur (62 per cent), Selangor (57 per cent) and Penang (57 per cent).
He said occupancy rates for non-ICU beds for Covid-19 cases in 13 states were above 50 per cent.
"Bed utilisation in Selangor and Putrajaya were at 111 per cent, followed by Kuala Lumpur (91 per cent), Terengganu (90 per cent), Perlis (89 per cent), Perak (89 per cent), Melaka (77 per cent), Kelantan (73 per cent), Sarawak (72 per cent), Pahang (61 per cent), Johor (61 per cent) and Penang (57 per cent).
He also said only one Covid-19 PKRC, located in Melaka reported more than 50 per cent occupancy at 60 per cent.
Dr Noor Hisham said Covid-19 patients in need of ventilator support increased to 229 patients (26 per cent ventilator use).
"The total percentage of ventilator use stands at 35 per cent, including Covid and non-Covid patients."
He explained that there were differences between the data of Covid-19 hospitalisations and Categories 1 to 5 cases logged daily.
This, he said was due to the dynamic clinical condition of the patient, where their situation could worsen or improve over time.
"At the same time, high risk cases of Covid-19 from Categories 1 and 2 were admitted to PKRCs and hospitals as precautionary measures.
"On March 10, Covid-19 patients admitted to hospitals were 2,048 with 771 from Categories 3 to 5 (37.6 per cent), while the remaining 1,277 were in Categories 1 and 2 (62.4 per cent)."