KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia recorded a 0.4% increase in new Covid-19 cases for the Epidemiological Week 23 (ME 23) from June 5 to 11, says Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abudllah (pic).

       The Health director-general said 11,096 cases were reported in ME 23 compared with 11,052 cases reported in the previous week (ME 22).

       He added that the cumulative number of Covid-19 cases in the country currently stood at 4,524,727.

       He said the average daily active cases for ME 23 recorded a 5.5% drop, which was 22,013 cases compared with the previous week.

       "The average infectivity rate (Rt value) showed a 5.5% increase at 0.96, compared with 0.91 reported in the previous week,” Dr Noor Hisham said in a statement Monday (June 13).

       He said the number of recovered cases in ME 23 also dropped by 21.7% (from 13,797 cases to 10,806 cases) compared with ME 22, bringing the cumulative recoveries to 4,466,305.

       Dr Noor Hisham said the number of deaths during ME 23 also showed a 3.8% drop, with 25 cases compared with 26 cases in the previous week, bringing the cumulative number of fatalities due to Covid-19 to 35,711.

       Meanwhile, he said the admission of Covid-19 patients into health facilities, namely public hospitals and the Covid-19 Quarantine and Treatment Centres (PKRCs) per 100,000 population, had decreased by 10% for the same ME compared to the previous ME.

       "However, the number of Covid-19 patient admissions to public hospitals per 100,000 population has increased by 20%. The number of cases requiring breathing assistance has decreased by 20%.

       "Overall, the bed occupancy at PKRCs increased by 200% and non-critical bed occupancy also increased by 8% while the use of intensive care unit (ICU) beds dropped by 17%,” he said.

       Dr Noor Hisham said Covid-19 cases monitored by the Covid-19 Assessment Centres (CAC) nationwide also dropped with patient arrivals at CAC down by 8.7% and the number of new Covid-19 cases undergoing home monitoring dropped by 0.5%.

       However, the number of Covid-19 cases referred by CAC to PKRCs or hospitals has increased by 51.9%, he said. - Bernama