PUTRAJAYA: For seven days straight, the total of daily Covid-19 recoveries in the country have outnumbered new cases.

       In his Covid-19 statement yesterday, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said there were 18,547 new cases and 18,902 recoveries in the same 24-hour span.

       Since the pandemic began, Malaysia has had 1.8 million positive cases and 1.6 million recoveries. The total of active Covid-19 cases continued its downward trend, with the latest figure standing at 252,002.

       Overall, 91.5% of yesterday’s 18,547 cases were made up of either unvaccinated individuals (76%) or those who had not completed their vaccination (14.9%).

       About 98% of the cases were mild and asymptomatic infections, with only 308 cases (1.66%) in Categories 3, 4 and 5.

       “This situation clearly shows that individuals who are fully vaccinated are more protected and also less at risk of getting a severe Covid-19 infection.

       “This positive development continues to be seen as Malaysia reaches higher vaccination rates.

       “So those who have not been vaccinated are advised to quickly get jabbed to protect the people around them from the possibility of being infected with Covid-19.

       “At the same time, the community is reminded to continue complying with Covid-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs) to reduce the chances of being infected,” said Dr Noor Hisham.

       Yesterday, Sarawak continued to have the most infections among all states with 3,200 new cases.

       Selangor was second with 2,407 cases, followed by Johor (2,174) and Sabah (2,107).

       The national infectivity rate is now at an RT level of 0.96.

       In terms of intensive care unit (ICU) rates, the country’s bed occupancy rates continued to fall, with only Kedah and Perak operating above 100% of their ICU capacity.

       Dr Noor Hisham said the country’s ICU usage rate is at 68% (as of Sept 6) - down from 86% the previous day.

       Kedah’s ICU usage is down to 102% from 123% of its 104-bed capacity.

       Perak, which has a capacity of 90 ICU beds, saw its usage increase from 108% to 111%.

       Kelantan, which reported 103% usage of its 85 ICU beds on Sunday, saw a fall to 95% on Monday.

       Sabah (90% out 143 ICU beds), Johor (91% out of 110 beds) and Perlis (91% of 11 beds) are the other states reporting more than 90% ICU bed usage.

       Selangor’s ICU usage has decreased to 75% (out of 317 beds) from 96%, while Kuala Lumpur’s figure has gone up from 54% to 73% (out of 187 beds).

       Sarawak’s ICU bed occupancy has also gone upwards - from 73% to 83% (out of 120 beds).

       In terms of Covid-19 non-ICU beds, the nationwide occupancy rate as of Sept 6 was at 72% (out of 17,885 beds), which is a decrease from 76% the previous day.