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KUALA LUMPUR, April 24 — The Health Ministry today reported 5,624 new Covid-19 infections in the last 24 hours, a slight decrease from 6,342 cases recorded yesterday.
This brings the cumulative infections to 4,427,067 from the time Covid-19 arrived in the country in 2020, Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a statement.
The number of people who died of the coronavirus similarly showed a slight decrease to nine compared to the 12 recorded on Saturday. Of today’s new fatalities on record, two died before reaching hospitals.
As of today, a total 35,491 people have died of the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic
The latest number of people who recovered came to 10,041, raising the cumulative recovered cases to 4,310,599.
Dr Noor Hisham said only 24 or 0.43 per cent of cases reported today were in Categories 3, 4 and 5 that required hospitalisation. He said the rest of the new cases reported only mild symptoms.
There are currently 89 patients being treated in intensive care units (ICU), of which 34 are suspected, probable or under investigation for Covid-19.
“Out of these 89, 57 need ventilators to help them breathe, including 35 who are confirmed as Covid-19 positive,” Dr Noor Hisham said.
He added that no state is currently using more than 50 per cent of its ICU bed capacity.
He also said there is no state exceeding 50 per cent capacity for non-ICU beds and quarantine centres.
Dr Noor Hisham said the number of Covid-19 patients in need of respiratory aid has decreased to 57 people.
Overall, he said the current percentage of ventilator use stands at 8 per cent for both patients with Covid-19 and those without.
Dr Noor Hisham also said the Health Ministry detected one new Covid-19 cluster in the past 24 hours.
The newest cluster puts the active clusters in the country at 99.