KUALA LUMPUR: Physical Covid-19 Assessment Centres (CAC) have reported a rise in fresh infections nationwide during the 29th epidemiological week (EW29) -- between July 17 and 23.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said patients visiting CACs shot up by 28 per cent during EW29, compared with the previous week.
"The number of new Covid-19 cases undergoing home surveillance rose by 26.9 per cent, while those referred to low-risk quarantine and treatment centres (PKRC) and hospitals jumped by 16.1 per cent.
"However, daily active cases monitored through virtual CACs dropped by 1.7 per cent -- from 71,326 cases in EW28 to 70,140 cases at the end of EW29.
"Meanwhile, public hospitals saw a 18.3 per cent increase in new Covid-19 admissions during EW29, compared with the previous week.
"The admission of patients from Categories 1 and 2 increased by 12.5 per cent, while the admission of severe cases (Categories 3 to 5) rose by 25 per cent," he said in his weekly update today.
Besides hospital admissions, Dr Noor Hisham said fresh infections, active cases and fatalities due to Covid-19 also saw a significant rise in EW29.
"Daily new cases saw a 13.5 per cent increase, from 26,335 cases in EW28 to 29,886 cases in EW29. The number of local transmissions increased by 13.5 per cent and the number of imported new cases dropped by 26.3 per cent.
"Covid-19 deaths shot up by 61.5 per cent, from 39 cases in EW28 to 63 cases in EW29. The daily average of active cases for EW29 was 45,542 -- a 19.5 per cent rise from the previous week."
Dr Noor Hisham said the country's average Covid-19 infectivity rate (Rt) remained at a static level throughout EW29, with an Rt value of 1.10.
Bed occupancy rate at Covid-19 facilities, he said, also logged a slight increase last week.
"Non-critical care bed occupancy increased by three per cent, while Intensive Care Units (ICU) bed occupancy rose by one per cent. Bed occupancy rate at PKRC, meanwhile, recorded a two per cent increase," he said.
Despite the surge in new infections, the number of new recoveries also increased by 18.9 per cent -- from 19,138 in EW28 to 22,757 recoveries in EW29.
To date, 4,648,931 people have caught Covid-19 in the country, and of that total, 4,563,474 have recovered from their infections.
Dr Noor Hisham said the positivity rate for influenza-like-illnesses samples also dropped by 0.9 per cent last week.
The positivity rate for Severe Acute Respiratory Infection from Covid-19 samples also remained at zero per cent during EW29, he said.