PETALING JAYA: Covid-19 cases requiring hospitalisation and ICU treatment are taking a longer period of time to get treated, thus impacting the availability of beds at hospitals and quarantine centres, says Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

       “Category 3 cases require aid and observation at hospitals, especially those under high risk, while Category 4 cases need an average of 14 days of care in the ICU ward.

       “Category 5 patients need an average of 21 days care in the ICU ward,” he explained.

       On cluster updates, he said that 17 new ones were recorded.

       Of that, 10 were linked to workplaces. Three of those clusters were identified in Selangor.

       Four community clusters were also discovered, of which three were in Johor.

       A detention facility in Tawau, Sabah, was also listed in the latest cluster update.

       Yesterday, Malaysia recorded 10,710 new infections, bringing the nation’s cumulative total to 916, 561.

       In the same 24-hour period, there was a record high of 153 fatalities, bringing the death toll to 7,019.

       The number of recoveries were 5,778, which means that 784,949 have recovered from the disease nationwide.

       There are still 909 patients in intensive care unit, with 445 requiring ventilation support.

       Of the total infections recorded yesterday, only 2.1% were listed under Category 3, 4 and 5 cases.

       Selangor recorded the most number of infections among the states with 4,828 cases.

       This was followed by Kuala Lumpur (945 cases), Johor (808), Negri Sembilan (771), Kedah (696) and Sarawak (666).

       The country’s overall Covid-19 infectivity rate is currently at 1.18, with Terengganu recording the highest infectivity rate at 1.31.

       As for Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, its infectivity rate is currently at 1.19 and 1.17, respectively. Perlis recorded an infectivity rate of 0.