Malaysia sees new Covid-19 cases dip to 3,386 at the turn of the year

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 1 — The Health Ministry recorded 3,386 new Covid-19 infections on the first day of 2022, bringing the cumulative cases to 2,761,472.

Today’s new cases also represent a slight decline in the number of daily cases compared to yesterday’s 3,573, showing a downward trend over the past three days.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said that 346 of the new cases were imported, involving 330 citizens and 16 foreigners.

He added that of the new cases, only 46 or 1.4 per cent are currently in categories 3, 4 and 5 that require hospitalisation.

As for patients being treated in intensive care units (ICU) nationwide, Dr Noor Hisham said that there were 273, with 202 of them confirmed positive for Covid-19 and the remaining 71 either suspected, probable or under investigation for Covid-19.

“Out of the 273 cases in ICUs, 159 of them require ventilators to help them breathe.

“Among this number, 86 have been confirmed with Covid-19, while the remaining are either suspected, probable or under investigation for the deadly disease,” he said. 

Dr Noor Hisham added that no new Covid-19 cases were detected among flood victims in temporary evacuation centres (PPS).

Five more Covid-19 clusters have also been identified today, said Dr Noor Hisham, adding that now there are 215 active clusters in the country.

He also said 3,547 more Covid-19 patients have recovered, bringing the total number of recoveries in the country to 2,688,925.

Malaysia’s current rate of infection currently stands at 0.98, with Kelantan holding the top spot for state with the highest infectivity rate, at 1.02.

This is followed by Terengganu, Johor and Melaka, all of whom have an infectivity rate of 0.97.