Malaysia logs 9,673 new COVID cases Friday

KUALA LUMPUR, April 16 (Bernama) -- A total of 9,673 new COVID-19 cases were recorded in Malaysia on Friday with 99.5 per cent of them in Categories 1 and 2, said Health Director-General Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah. In a statement, he said of the total, 48 cases or 0.5 per cent were in Categories 3, 4 and 5 (more severe categories), with 17 of them not vaccinated or not fully vaccinated, while 17 had received two doses of COVID-19 vaccine but not booster dose whereas 14 had received booster dose. The new cases brought the COVID-19 case tally in the country to 4,372,697. According to Dr Noor Hisham, 370 cases were admitted to hospital on Friday with 224 of them in Categories 1 and 2 while 146 cases in Categories 3, 4 and 5. Meanwhile, there were 14,267 recoveries yesterday, taking cumulative recovered cases in the country to 4,224,125. As for the use of special health facilities for COVID-19 cases, Dr Noor Hisham said no state recorded ICU bed occupancy rate exceeding 50 per cent. Dr Noor Hisham added that Malaysia's COVID-19 infectivity rate (Rt value) stood at 0.82. -- BERNAMA