KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia recorded 26,534 new Covid-19 infections yesterday, an increase from 22,030 cases on Monday.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said this brought the cumulative cases to 3,533,994.
Of the fresh cases, he said 25,843 cases were local transmissions (25,006 Malaysians and 837 foreigners) and 691 cases were imported (653 Malaysians and 38 foreigners).
"From the new cases reported, 10,516 (39.63 per cent) were in Category 1; 15,842 (59.71 per cent) in Category 2; 65 (0.24 per cent) in Category 3; 65 (0.24 per cent) in Category 4; and 46 (0.18) in Category 5.
"Of 176 cases reported in Categories 3, 4 and 5; 45 cases involved unvaccinated or partially vaccinated individuals; 92 cases were individuals who have been fully vaccinated but had not received their booster shots and 40 cases were individuals that have been boosted.
"A total 95 cases were those age 60 and above, and 61 cases with co-morbidities," he said.
Dr Noor Hisham added that a total of 376 patients were admitted to intensive care units (ICU) and 222 required ventilator support.
He also said 31,234 patients have recovered and were discharged yesterday.
Malaysia, he said registered four new clusters, which brings the number of active clusters to 366.
Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham said bed usage at ICUs for Covid-19 patients in five states and two federal territories (FT) was above 50 per cent as of yesterday.
Kuala Lumpur topped the list with 81 per cent, followed by Putrajaya (67 per cent), Johor (64 per cent), Selangor (60 per cent), Kelantan (58 per cent), Perlis (55 per cent), and Melaka with 50 per cent.
Ten states and two FTs were using more than 50 per cent of their non-ICU beds for Covid-19 cases.
Putrajaya's utilisation rate was above capacity at 104 per cent, followed by Kuala Lumpur with 90 per cent, Terengganu (87 per cent) and Perak at 83 per cent.
In Selangor, the non-ICU utilisation rate was at 79 per cent, followed by Melaka at 77 per cent, Perlis (76 per cent), Sarawak (72 per cent), Kelantan (67 per cent), Johor (57 per cent), Pahang (52 per cent) and Penang at 50 per cent.
"As for Covid-19 Quarantine and Low-Risk Treatment Centres (PKRC), all states and FTs reported usage below 50 per cent, with the nationwide rate at 20 per cent.
"Patients needing ventilator support increased to 222, with utilisation rate at 25 per cent," he said.
Dr Noor Hisham added 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.
"Yesterday, a total 1,782 Covid-19 patients were admitted to hospitals with 706 from Categories 3 to 5 (39.6 per cent), while the remaining 1,076 were in Categories 1 and 2 (60.4 per cent)."
He added that the country's Rt fate was at 0.95 as of yesterday.
"Sarawak registered the highest Rt at 1.19, followed by Kuala Lumpur at 1.12, Terengganu (1.10), Negri Sembilan and Putrajaya (1.04), Perak (1.03), Penang, Melaka and Johor (1.02), Selangor (1.01), Pahang and Kedah (1.00), Kelantan (0.97), Perlis (0.92), Labuan (0.81) and Sabah at 0.70."
According to the Health Ministry's data shared on CovidNow, there were 304,147 active cases in the country as of yesterday.