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Health DG: Covid-19 hospitalisation on the rise

KUALA LUMPUR: Covid-19 hospitalisation has increased by 15 per cent in the 27th Epidemiology Week (ME27) compared to the previous week.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said Category 1 and 2 hospital admissions went up by 14 per cent while Category 3, 4 and 5 rose by 17 per cent.

"Intensive care unit (ICU) admissions also rose by one per cent while admissions to Low Risk Covid-19 Quarantine and Treatment Centres (PKRC) saw a two per cent increase," he said today.

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Cases referred to Covid-19 Assessment Centres (CAC) saw a mammoth 27.8 per cent surge while home quarantine observations jumped by 12.6 per cent.

He said there was also a 67.5 per cent hike in the number of Covid-19 cases referred from CACs to PKRCs.

The number of cases observed via virtual CAC also rose by 23.4 per cent, from 43,203 cases in ME26 to 53,306 cases in ME27.

The number of Covid-19 recoveries, said Dr Noor Hisham, showed a positive trend, rising by 14.6 per cent from 14,293 cases in ME26 to 16,379 cases in ME27.

New cases also increased by 27.9 per cent, from 16,694 cases to 21,355 cases between both epidemiology weeks.

"Average active cases stood at 32,145 cases in ME27, a rise of 11 per cent from ME26.

"Deaths are also up by 46.2 per cent, from 26 cases in ME26 to 38 cases in ME27," he added.

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The average R-naught (infectivity rate) value rose from 1.05 in ME26 to 1.1 in ME27.

Surveillance for influenza-like illnesses (ILI) also rose by 94.5 per cent from 5.5 per cent in ME26 to 10.7 per cent in ME27, he said.

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