KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 224 new Covid-19 cases out of the 30,787 infections on Thursday involved Category 3 to 5, says Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah (pic).

       He said the remaining 30,563 cases comprised Category 1 and 2, bringing the cumulative total Covid-19 cases in the country to 3,741,986.

       “Meanwhile, 26,457 recovery cases were logged (on Thursday), taking cumulative recoveries to 3,393,999 cases,” he said in a statement as reported by Bernama.

       Dr Noor Hisham said from the 224 cases in Category 3 to 5, 58 cases involved individuals who have not been vaccinated while 94 received two doses of the vaccine but have not received their booster doses.

       “There were 72 cases of those who have received their booster shots while 122 cases were aged 60 and above as well as 96 with comorbidities,” he added.

       Dr Noor Hisham also said that 2,048 cases were admitted to hospitals on Thursday involving 771 in Category 3 to 5 and 1,277 cases in Category 1 and 2.

       He said 389 cases needed treatment in intensive care units (ICUs) and 229 patients required respiratory assistance, taking the current rate of ventilator usage to 26%.

       On ICU bed occupancy, Dr Noor Hisham said six states with 50% and above utilisation were Kelantan (79%), Johor (68%), Putrajaya (67%), Kuala Lumpur (62%), and Penang and Selangor stood at 57% each.

       He said the infectivity rate (Rt) in the country is now 1.04.

       The state with the highest Rt is Sarawak with 1.37.

       Other states with Rt above 1.0 are Kuala Lumpur (1.16), Terengganu (1.15), Perak (1.10), Negri Sembilan (1.07), Kedah (1.05), Selangor (1.04), Pahang and Penang with 1.03 while Melaka and Putrajaya are at 1.02.