PETALING JAYA: New Covid-19 cases have been decreasing daily over the last five days, says Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

       The Health director-general said the country had reported 15,549 cases on Saturday, 17,577 on Friday, 18,815 on Thursday and 19,495 on Wednesday.

       Meanwhile, reported recoveries significantly surpassed new Covid-19 cases yesterday, he posted on social media.

       A total of 23,469 patients recovered and 14,954 new cases were recorded. The cumulative number of cases is now at 2,097,830

       In his daily Covid-19 statement, Dr Noor Hisham said 98.4% or 14,711 of the new cases were mild and asymptomatic infections.

       “Another 1.6% or 243 cases are those in Categories 3, 4 and 5,” he said.

       Meanwhile, 1,194 individuals were admitted to intensive care units (ICUs).

       These include 882 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 312 suspected cases. Among them, 665 are on ventilator support.

       Sarawak recorded the highest number of cases with 2,707 infections, followed by Selangor (2,028), Johor (1,948), Kelantan (1,420) and Sabah (1,356).

       This was followed by Penang (1,259), Perak (1,222), Kedah (809), Pahang (705), Terengganu (671), Kuala Lumpur (383), Melaka (207), Negri Sembilan (144), Perlis (76), and Putrajaya (19). Labuan recorded zero cases.

       The national infectivity rate (R0) has dropped further to 0.94, and fewer states now have R0 of 1.0 and above now.

       They are Sarawak (1.08), Terengganu and Pahang (1.05), and Johor and Perak (1.01).

       Penang, Kelantan, Putrajaya, Melaka, Perlis, Sabah, Kedah, Negri Sembilan, Selangor and Kuala Lumpur recorded R0 of below 1.0 while Labuan’s R0 is zero.

       A total of 19 new clusters were recorded, taking the number of active clusters to 1,348 nationwide.

       Among these, 13 were workplace-related, four were in the community and one each involving a detention centre and a high-risk group.