KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 20): Malaysia’s new Covid-19 cases fell further to 14,345 today from 14,954 yesterday, the Ministry of Health (MoH) said.
Sarawak again had the most infections at 3,611, followed by Johor (1,598), Selangor (1,365), Sabah (1,255), Penang (1,170), Perak (1,090) and Kelantan (1,050).
Elsewhere, Kedah posted 967 cases today, followed by Terengganu (804), Pahang (779), Kuala Lumpur (307), Melaka (162), Negeri Sembilan (125), Perlis (51) and Putrajaya (11). Labuan saw no new infections.
A total of 14,133 cases or 98.5% of today’s cases had no symptoms (Category 1 patients) or only mild symptoms (Category 2), MoH director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a statement.
The remaining 212 cases or 1.5% were in Category 3 (patients with pneumonia), Category 4 (patients with pneumonia requiring oxygen therapy) and Category 5 (critical patients requiring assisted ventilation).
Dr Noor Hisham said new recoveries came in higher than new infections at 16,814, bringing total recoveries to 1.88 million. This translates into a recovery rate of 89%.
A total of 1,167 Covid-19 patients were warded in the intensive care unit with 636 of them on ventilators.
60% of 12-17 year olds to get at least one dose by November
Meanwhile, the director-general also shared that the latest statistics revealed that there is an increasing trend of Covid-19 infections among those aged 18 years and below.
He said the trend is worrying as there were 67 deaths reported among children this year, as compared to six deaths last year.
“The Drug Control Authority has given conditional approval to all adolescent children who have reached the age of 12 years and above to be vaccinated.
“Hence, parents and guardians are advised to register their eligible children through their respective educational institutions and through the MySejahtera application immediately,” Dr Noor Hisham said.
He added that MoH’s plan is to get 60% of children aged between 12 and 17 years old administered at least one dose of the vaccine by November.
It further hopes to see 80% of them to be fully vaccinated before school opens for the 2022 session.
23 new Covid-19 clusters detected
The Health Ministry reported 23 more Covid-19 clusters today, including 13 workplace clusters.
To date, 5,305 clusters have been detected nationwide, including 3,970 that have been declared ended.