KUALA LUMPUR: The number of new daily Covid-19 cases dropped to 26,250 on Saturday, from 32,800 the previous day, says the Health director-general.

       Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said of the total cases recorded on Saturday, 26,073 cases or 99.33% were in Category 1 and 2.

       The remaining 177 cases or 0.67% were in Category 3, 4 and 5, he said in a statement yesterday.

       He said the country’s infectivity rate (Rt) was 0.99, compared to 1.03 on Friday.

       On the use of Covid-19 beds for critical cases or at intensive care units of Health Ministry hospitals, Dr Noor Hisham said six states recorded more than 50%.

       They are Putrajaya at 167%, Kelantan (69%), Johor (68%), Kuala Lumpur (65%), Selangor (58%) and Perak (53%).

       He added that the number of Covid-19 patients who required respiratory assistance had decreased to 211 patients from 231 on Friday, while the percentage of ventilator usage on Saturday was 24% compared to 26% the day before.

       On the Covid-19 infection among senior citizens, Dr Noor Hisham said there were 367,522 cases involving the group, recorded from March 19, 2020, to March 9, 2022, which is 9.9% of the total 3,711,199 positive cases recorded in the country during the period.

       He said between Jan 25, 2020, and March 3 this year, a total of 154 clusters were reported at care centres for senior citizens.

       Dr Noor Hisham added that the Covid-19 death rate among the elderly was higher compared with other age groups, and that unvaccinated elderly were the most at risk. — Bernama