PETALING JAYA: The country’s Covid-19 death toll continues to rise with 144 more fatalities recorded on Friday (July 23).

       This brings the death toll to 7,718 since the pandemic began.

       Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said Selangor recorded the highest number with 66 deaths.

       Of the death cases reported, 119 had comorbidities and eight were brought-in-dead.

       Dr Noor Hisham also said 939 patients were being treated at ICUs and 456 required ventilator support.

       He also said there were 30 new clusters in the country stemming from communities, workplaces, high-risk groups, a religious group and an institute of higher learning.

       Dr Noor Hisham said as of Thursday (July 22), the country’s R0-value was 1.07 with Terengganu recording the highest value at 1.44.

       Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham encouraged people to get vaccinated as it would effectively reduce infections and lighten the burden of the healthcare system.

       He cited Labuan as an example, where more than 73% of residents have been fully vaccinated.

       “There are 21 new cases in Labuan which is significantly lower than the number of infections in the past three weeks, most of them caused by the Delta variant,” he said.

       He said Labuan has also seen a reduction in patients at quarantine centres and the field hospital there may soon close.

       Currently, he said only nine out of the 22 ICU beds in the Federal Territory are occupied.

       “The Labuan model proves that vaccination can control the spread of Covid-19 in the community.

       “While capacity can be increased to handle the situation, it is not the solution, but vaccination is,” he said.

       On Friday, new infections rose to a new high with 15,573 cases, bringing the country’s total to 980,491.