Malaysia’s Covid-19 daily cases dip below 7,000, 12 deaths reported

KUALA LUMPUR, April 18 — The Health Ministry today reported 6,623 new daily Covid-19 cases in the last 24-hour period.

This represents a significant drop from yesterday’s 9,705 new infections and also the lowest that daily cases have been since February 3, when 5,720 were reported.

In a statement, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said cumulative infections now stand at 4,389,025 since the start of the pandemic in 2020.

He also announced that another 12 lives were lost to Covid-19 yesterday, of which eight were categorised as brought-in-dead (BID).

To date, the coronavirus has claimed 35,421 lives nationwide since the pandemic began.

Dr Noor Hisham also disclosed that only 42 or 0.63 per cent of cases reported today were in Categories 3, 4 and 5 that required hospitalisation. He said the rest of the cases reported only mild symptoms.

“There are currently 126 patients being treated in intensive care units (ICU), of which 60 are suspected, probable or under investigation for Covid-19.

“Out of these 126, 76 need ventilators to help them breathe, including 43 who are confirmed as Covid-19 positive,” he said.

In the statement, Dr Noor Hisham said no state is currently using more than 50 per cent of its ICU bed capacity.

As for Covid-19 quarantine centres, Perak is the only state which currently has more than 50 per cent of its beds utilised at 58 per cent.

Dr Noor Hisham said the number of Covid-19 patients in need of respiratory aid has decreased to 76 people.

Overall, he said the current percentage of ventilator use stands at 10 per cent for patients with Covid-19.

Dr Noor Hisham also said six Covid-19 clusters were detected by the MoH in the past 24 hours, resulting in 120 clusters that are currently active.

The Covid-19 infectivity rate (R-naught or R0) is now at 0.86 nationwide, with Selangor and Seremban recording the highest rate at 0.89.