Covid-19 (Dec 20): 2,589 cases - lowest since May 3

 

 COVID-19 | The Health Ministry reported 2,589 new Covid-19 cases today - the lowest number of new cases since May 3.

They were surpassed by a total of 3,810 Covid-19 patients who recovered today. This is expected to help reduce the number of active cases.

However, it should be cautioned that a large part of the Klang Valley and some parts of the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia was grappling with devastating floods during the weekend.

This may have led to fewer tests being conducted.

The R-number as of yesterday for Malaysia was 0.92. As long as it stays below 1.00, it suggests that the spread of Covid-19 was decelerating.

There are no parts of Malaysia where the R-number is above 1.00.

• Patients in ICU: 379
• Intubated: 210

As of today, the number of Covid-19 patients (including suspected ones) in the intensive care unit (ICU) is 7.1 percent lower compared to a week ago.

On the flip side, those who require intubation have increased by 1.9 percent from a week ago.

Daily admission of Covid-19 patients is down nine percent over the past seven days, compared to the preceding week.

To date, 251 Covid-19 clusters are still active, including 3 new clusters reported today.

The ongoing clusters have seen an increase of 2.0 percent from the 246 active clusters a week ago.

The breakdown for new cases reported today will only be published after midnight. These are the figures from yesterday (Dec 19), where 3,108 new cases were reported:

Selangor (919)
Johor (297)
Kelantan (255)
Penang (216)
Sabah (189)
Perak (189)
Kuala Lumpur (184)
Malacca (179)
Kedah (176)
Terengganu (156)
Pahang (150)
Negeri Sembilan (122)
Sarawak (30)
Putrajaya (18)
Perlis (16)
Labuan (12)

In a related development, the Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said 72 of the government healthcare facilities have been affected by the recent floods – 43 in Pahang, 20 in Selangor, 8 in Kelantan, and 1 in Negeri Sembilan.

Twenty-one of these are unable to continue operations and are temporarily closed, mostly in Selangor. Communication has been cut off to eight health facilities, but they remain in operation.

The list of the closed healthcare facilities and the nearest facility still in operation are as follows:

Meanwhile at temporary flood relief centres, a total of 181 Covid-19 cases have been detected as of 11am today.

They comprise 94 people who were already undergoing home quarantine when evacuated, 83 who tested positive during admission to the relief centre, and four who tested positive after already being admitted to the centre.

The breakdown by state, district, and how the infections were detected is as follows:

-Mkini