KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 6 — The number of new COVID-19 cases in the country today exceeded the 10,000 mark, with 10,089 cases reported as of 12 noon, bringing the cumulative number of COVID-19 cases to 2,914,220, said Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
The last time Malaysia recorded new COVID-19 cases of above 10,000 was on Oct 2 last year, with 10,915 cases.
Dr Noor Hisham, in an update via his official Twitter account, said 99.24 per cent or 10,012 new cases were in category one and two, while another 77 cases or 0.76 per cent were in category three, four and five.
He said Selangor recorded the highest number of positive cases at 2,549, followed by Johor (1,582), Sabah (1,285), Kedah (904) and Pahang (624).
This is then followed by Penang (542), Kuala Lumpur (491), Kelantan (471), Negeri Sembilan (464), Melaka (457), Perak (321), Terengganu (213), Putrajaya (61), Sarawak (58), Perlis (44) and Labuan (23).
On the country’s infectvity rate (Rt), Dr Noor Hisham said it was at 1.20 with Perlis recording the highest value of 1.49 followed by Sabah (1.41), Putrajaya (1.29), Kedah (1.22), while Penang and Sarawak recorded 1.17, as of yesterday.
He said with the present Ro/Rt of 1.2, Malaysia is expected to reach 22,000 COVID-19 cases by end of March this year, hence it is everyone’s responsibility to comply with all public health and social measures.
Dr Noor Hisham said increasing the vaccination and booster shot coverage could also reduce the transmission, as well as lower the Ro/Rt to less than 1.
“We are not out of the woods yet. The onus is on us now to come together and brace the surge of cases. However, more importantly, we have to anticipate the high number of cases with less severity, less hospitalisation and less fatality,” he said.
As of yesterday, a total of 12,307,360 individuals or 52.6 per cent of the adult population in the country have received the COVID-19 booster dose.
Meanwhile, a total of 22,929,020 individuals or 97.9 per cent of adults have completed their vaccination, while 99.2 per cent or 23,222,612 individuals have received at least one dose of the vaccine.
As for adolescents aged 12 to 17, a total of 2,791,080 individuals or 88.7 per cent have completed their vaccination, while 2,868,945 individuals or 91.2 per cent have received at least one dose of the vaccine.
Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham said there were 6,460 recoveries recorded today, bringing the cumulative number of recoveries to 2,812,614.
“Of the total new cases recorded today, 137 of them are in intensive care units and 71 cases require respiratory assistance,” he said in a daily statement on the current COVID-19 situation.
According to him, 11 new clusters had been identified, bringing the total number of active clusters to 361.
Source: BERNAMA News Agency