COVID-19 | The Health Ministry reported 4,979 new Covid-19 cases today, bringing the cumulative case count to 2,471,642.

This is the second time we recorded below 5,000 daily new cases in a week. Before that, the last time we recorded new cases of sub-5,000 cases was four months ago in June.

The fresh infections comprised 4,753 Malaysians (95.5 percent) and 226 non-citizens (4.5 percent).

They were surpassed by a total of 6,127 Covid-19 patients who recovered today. This is expected to help reduce the number of active cases.

• Patients in ICU: 562
• Intubated: 326

As of today, the number of Covid-19 patients (including suspected ones) in the intensive care unit (ICU) is 6.8 percent lower compared to a week ago.

Those who require intubation have also increased by 8.7 percent from a week ago.

The number of hospital admissions throughout the country in the last seven days had declined by 11.3 percent compared to the preceding week.

However, hospital admissions in some states are on the rise, particularly in Pahang (+46.4 percent), Terengganu (+29.2 percent), Kedah (+26.5 percent), Malacca (+26.2 percent) and Kuala Lumpur (+23.0 percent).

Covid-19 hospital bed utilisation rate is highest in Kelantan (82.9 percent), Terengganu (79 percent) and Malacca (75 percent).

Beginning Oct 9, the Health Ministry will only publish daily’s breakdown of new cases by states after midnight on its CovidNow portal.

The breakdown by states for yesterday (Oct 30), where 5,854 new cases were reported, is as follows:

Selangor (1,401)
Sabah (650)
Sarawak (646)
Kelantan (450)
Johor (435)
Pahang (350)
Kedah (345)
Kuala Lumpur (309)
Penang (270)
Terengganu (266)
Perak (231)
Malacca (223)
Negeri Sembilan (213)
Perlis (35)
Putrajaya (29)
Labuan (1)

The R-naught for the country as of yesterday is 0.96. An R-naught of less than 1.00 suggests that the spread of Covid-19 was decelerating.

The only regions with an R-naught of above 1.00 are Kuala Lumpur and Negeri Sembilan.

Clusters

To date, 428 Covid-19 clusters are still active, including six new clusters reported today.

The ongoing clusters have fallen by 20.6 percent from the 539 active clusters a week ago.

The six new clusters today comprised one non-education ministry institution cluster (16.7 percent), one workplace cluster (16.7 percent), two high education institution clusters (33.3 percent) and two community clusters (33.3 percent).

Desa Sena
Category: Non-Education Ministry institution
States: Penang
District(s): Seberang Perai Utara
Initial tests: 24 out of 80 infected (30.0 percent)

Jalan Bukit Rasah
Category: Higher education institution
States: Negeri Sembilan
District(s): Seremban and Kuala Pilah
Initial tests: 23 out of 83 infected (27.7 percent)

Indera Mahkota Lapan
Category: Higher education institution
States: Pahang
District(s): Kuantan
Initial tests: 10 out of 80 infected (12.5 percent)

Serigala Ulu
Category: Community
States: Selangor
District(s): Hulu Selangor
Initial tests: 11 out of 23 infected (47.8 percent)

Kampung Pulau Panjang Kemumin
Category: Community
States: Kelantan
District(s): Kota Bharu
Initial tests: 16 out of 20 infected (80.0 percent)

Industri Jalan Budi Selatan
Category: Workplace
States: Johor
District(s): Batu Pahat
Initial tests: 8 out of 29 infected (27.6 percent)

Source:Malaysiakini