PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s Covid-19 positivity rate continues to show improvement, with the latest figure of 4.65% falling within the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) recommended threshold.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah (pic) said the 7,276 Covid-19 cases recorded yesterday were out of 156,567 tests conducted.
“The positivity rate is 4.65%, fulfilling the WHO’s benchmark of 5%. This shows that the number of Covid-19 tests conducted in the country is adequate and depicts the correct situation on the field,” he said yesterday.
The positivity rate refers to the percentage of people who are Covid-19 positive out of the total tested.
Based on the ministry’s CovidNow website, the last time Malaysia’s average positivity rate was around 5% was in May, before the third movement control order was imposed.
The positivity rate peaked at an average of 15% around August before hitting a declining trend towards the end of September.
The 7,276 cases reported in the country yesterday consisted of 97.9% (7,126 cases) of mild and asymptomatic infections.
“Another 150 cases or 2.1% are Categories 3, 4 and 5 infections,” said Dr Noor Hisham in his daily Covid-19 update.
The total of 7,276 cases reported yesterday is the second lowest daily figure in the last three months, only behind Monday’s 6,709 infections.
Cumulatively, the country has recorded 2,353,579 total infections since the pandemic began.
Malaysia also discharged 10,555 more Covid-19 patients, bringing total recoveries to 2,215,057 or 94.2%.
There are now 724 patients in intensive care units (ICUs) nationwide, down from 762 the previous day.
Some 398 patients are on ventilator support.
Other daily Covid-19 figures will only be updated on the ministry’s CovidNow website after midnight, including breakdown of cases according to state as well as the number of deaths.
As at Monday at 11.59pm, there are 112,379 active cases – a figure which continues to be on a downward trend.
Of the 112,379 active cases, nearly 80% are mild and asymptomatic patients who are undergoing isolation at home.
Some 13.7% are at low-risk quarantine centres, while 6.8% are hospitalised.
The number of patients in ICUs is 0.7% out of all active cases.
Meanwhile, the Health Ministry has removed mandatory Covid-19 screening requirement for Langkawi travellers, after seeing a low number of tourists testing positive.
“As at Oct 10, a total of 54,341 tourists had undergone Covid-19 screening (since the implementation of the Langkawi tourism bubble initiative on Sept 16) and of that, only 216 travellers (0.4%) tested positive.
“Only one tourist developed symptoms while in Langkawi and tested positive for Covid-19.
“Investigations found that the source of infection was not in Langkawi.
“The travel bubble initiative has also produced no Covid-19 clusters in Langkawi,” said Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin in a statement.
He stressed that the requirement for adult travellers to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 remains, and those who wish to travel are encouraged to self-test before departure.