KUALA LUMPUR, May 2 — Daily Covid-19 numbers rose above the 3,000-case mark again today, with Selangor accounting for over one in three new infections, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah announced today.
The Ministry of Health reported 3,418 new infection cases as of noon, raising the total cumulative cases to 415,012.
Selangor, the state often contributing the highest number of cases since the rate of daily infection spiked to over 2,000, reported 1,200 cases today.
Sarawak and Kelantan recorded the second and third highest number of cases respectively, at 587 and 400.
Public health authorities have raised the alarm over the effects a sharp resurgence of daily cases have had on the healthcare system, which could reach breaking point if the infection rate continues to rise in the next few days.
The MOH said today the number of critical patients have risen by 62 per cent in just two weeks, causing the intensive care units of most major hospitals to be overwhelmed.
In six of the hospitals within the Klang Valley — Hospital Kuala Lumpur, Hospital Sungai Buloh, Hospital Ampang, Hospital Serdang, Hospital Selayang and Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Klang — over 70 per cent of ICU beds have been taken up, the ministry tweeted this evening.
“The healthcare capacity in the Klang Valley (Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya) is at a worrying level,” it tweeted this evening.
Malaysia is facing what some experts believe to be a “fourth wave” of the pandemic, with the recent number of daily cases nearly reaching the 4,000 mark.
Dr Noor Hisham warned yesterday that ICUs in Klang Valley hospitals were once again nearing capacity after the resurgence of Covid-19 cases after most movement restrictions were relaxed.
National news agency Bernama quoted the Health DG as saying the intensive care units in all major hospitals in the Klang Valley are almost overwhelmed by severe Covid-19 cases with the occupancy rate reaching 90 per cent this morning,
The news report came just hours after Dr Noor Hisham posted a 45-second clip on Twitter showing most beds at the Sungai Buloh Hospital ICU having mostly been taken up.
In a series of tweets that followed the short video clip of the situation at Sungai Buloh hospital, Dr Noor Hisham posted photos of critically-ill Covid-19 patients forced to be placed in the general ward because of the overwhelmed ICU.
