KUALA LUMPUR: The country's Covid-19 fatalities and new cases have been on a declining trend in the 21st Epidemiology Week (ME21) at 34.5 per cent.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah in a statement today, said the Covid-19 fatalities dropped from 29 cases to 19 cases between May 21 to 28, compared to the 20th Epidemiology Week (ME20).
Dr Noor Hisham said the average daily active cases for ME21 recorded were 25,360, showing a downward trend to 15.1 per cent compared to the previous epidemiology week.
"New cases reported on ME21 also reported a decrease of 4.1 per cent or 13,630 cases to 13,076 cases compared to the previous week.
"Local transmission cases also decreased to 4.4 per cent or 13,615 cases to 13,022 while imported cases reported an increasing trend of 260 per cent or 15 cases to 54 cases in the same week," he said.
Dr Noor Hisham said the number of recoveries in ME21 also reported a rising trend from 15,278 to 15,925 individuals recovered from the coronavirus.
On the overall number of Covid-19 patients admitted to health facilities such as hospitals and Low-Risk Quarantine and Treatment Centre (PKRC) per 100,000, he said the number also decreased by 10 per cent in the 21st epidemiology week.
"The total Covid-19 patient admissions to public hospitals per 100,000 population remained unchanged.
"The bed utilisation in Covid-19 facilities also decreased in ME21 compared to ME20 while critical bed utilisation remains the same.
"The intensive care unit utilisation increased to 17 per cent while bed utilisation at the PKRC remains unchanged.
Dr Noor Hisham said the number of Covid-19 positive cases monitored by the Covid-19 Assessment Centers (CAC) nationwide showed a declining trend in ME21.
"Covid-19 cases referred by CAC to PKRC or hospitals showed a significant decrease of 46.6 per cent.
"The number of patient visits to the CAC has decreased by 5.1 per cent and new Covid-19 cases undergoing home quarantine also declined by 6.5 per cent," he said.
"The CAC also monitored the Covid-19 daily active cases virtually, and found the cases have reduced to 8.8 per cent by the end of ME21 compared to end ME20 from 24,647 to 22,475 cases," he said.
Dr Noor Hisham also updated the country's cumulative Covid-19 clusters until Saturday (May 28) at 7,012 with three active clusters.
Dr Noor Hisham said the ministry reported a further decrease in Covid-19 samples through its surveillance at sentinel locations nationwide.
The ministry's surveillance at sentinel locations across the country found the positive rate of influenza-like illness (ILI) samples for Covid-19 has increased by 102.4 per cent.
"The increase for positive cases was from 4.1 per cent in ME20 to 8.3 per cent in ME21.
"A total of 2.6 per cent of positive cases of Covid-19 from Severe Acute Respiratory Infection samples (SARI) on ME21 also showed an increase of 62.5 per cent which is 2.6 per cent compared to 1.6 per cent in ME20," he said.