KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 203 cases, or 0.61% of the 33,209 new Covid-19 cases recorded in Malaysia on Friday (March 4) are in categories three, four, and five.

       Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said that the remaining 33,006 cases, or 99.39% are in categories one and two.

       "Of the 203 cases in categories three to five reported Friday, 43 were unvaccinated or have yet to complete their vaccinations while 117 were fully vaccinated but have yet to receive the booster dose.

       "Apart from that, 43 cases from categories three to five had received booster doses, 119 cases involved individuals aged 60 and above, 67 cases have comorbidities and one case involved a pregnant woman,” he said in a statement Saturday (March 5).

       He said a total of 1,997 cases were admitted to hospitals on Friday, comprising 721 cases in categories three to five, and 1,276 cases in categories one and two.

       Dr Noor Hisham also said that a total of 348 cases required treatment in intensive care units (ICUs) with 211 cases requiring ventilator support and the utilisation rate stood at 24%.

       He said 26,352 recoveries were reported Friday, bringing the cumulative number of recoveries in the country to 3,223,650.

       On the ICU bed usage, Dr Noor Hisham said that seven states recorded bed utilisation of more than 50% - Putrajaya (100%), Perlis (73%), Selangor (61%), Kuala Lumpur (58%), Johor (57%), Perak (51%) and Kelantan (50%).

       He also said that the country’s infectivity rate (Rt) now stood at 1.02, with Sarawak recording the highest at 1.41, followed by Perak (1.28), Kuala Lumpur (1.23) and Terengganu (1.18).

       Meanwhile, he advised patients who are in categories 2B and above or have worsening symptoms to go to the Covid-19 Assessment Centres (CAC) or the nearest hospital for further checks without waiting for calls from the CAC. - Bernama