PUTRAJAYA: Covid-19 cases increased by 28% to 2,305 cases in the 46th epidemiological week (ME46/2023) from Nov 12-18 compared with 1,801 cases reported in the previous week, says the Health Ministry.
It said the rate of Covid-19 admission, including suspected Covid-19 patients, to health facilities dropped to two for every 100,000 of the population in ME46/2023 compared with ME45/2023 (from Nov 5-11).
The utilisation rate of intensive care unit (ICU) beds was at 0.4% while that of non-critical beds was 0.7% in ME 46/2023.
“So far, the Covid-19 situation in Malaysia is under control,” it said yesterday, Bernama reported.It also said a total of 21 new Omicron variants had been reported, comprising 20 cases of a Variant of Concern (VOC), and one case of a Variant of Interest (VOI) in ME46/2023.
There are a total of 785 cumulative VOI cases circulating, namely XBB.1.16, XBB.1.5 and EG.5, with 783 local and two imported cases.
They include 143 cases in Sarawak, Selangor (136 cases), Kuala Lumpur (119), Melaka (117), Johor (59), Kedah (52), Penang (37), Terengganu (24), Sabah (23), Kelantan (21), Negri Sembilan (16), Perlis (12), Perak and Putrajaya (nine each) and Pahang (eight).
The ministry said that as of ME45/2023, the surveillance at sentinel locations nationwide found 61 influenza-like illness samples to be positive for Covid-19, with a positive percentage rate of 7.0 while 69 severe acute respiratory infection samples to be positive at a percentage rate of 3.0.
