Covid-19 (Nov 11): 822 new cases, Sabah trending downwards

UPDATED 8.15PM | COVID-19 | The Health Ministry today reported 822 new Covid-19 cases and two deaths during the 24-hour period ending noon today.

Leading indicators, as of today, in brief:

• Active cases = 11,446 ↑ (51 more than the previous day)

• Patients in intensive care = 86 ↑ (4 more than the previous day)

• Intubated patients = 30 ↑ (3 more than the previous day)

• Deaths = 2

Both deaths were reported in Sabah and involved foreigners. The cumulative number of deaths in Sabah attributed to Covid-19 stood at 164, or 54.3 percent of the national death toll (302).

Sabah reported the most number of new Covid-19 cases (31.5 percent) followed by Negeri Sembilan (27.4 percent) and Klang Valley regions (24.6 percent).

Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah in his daily press briefing today noted that the number of new cases from Sabah was on the downtrend.

"Our concern now is in Peninsula Malaysia," he said.

Sabah's new case number (258) had been steadily decreasing since reporting 1,199 new cases just six days ago. 

Of the 822 cases today, seven cases are imported from abroad. A breakdown of the 815 local infections are as follows:

Sabah (258 cases)

- Existing clusters - 44

- New clusters (Haven, Karamunting, and Saga) - 12

- Close contact screening - 91

- Other types of screening - 11

Negeri Sembilan (225 cases)

- Existing clusters - 221

- Screening for severe acute respiratory infections - 1

- Other types of screening - 3

Selangor (176 cases)

- Existing clusters - 102

- Close contact screening - 38

- Other types of screening - 36

Labuan (46 cases)

- Existing clusters - 16

- Close contact screening - 25

- Other types of screening - 5

Penang (26 cases)

- Existing clusters - 21

- Screening for severe acute respiratory infections - 2

- Other types of screening - 3

Kuala Lumpur (17 cases)

- Existing clusters - 14

- Close contact screening - 2

- Other types of screening - 1

Kedah (17 cases)

- Existing clusters - 16

- Close contact screening - 1

Sarawak (14 cases)

- Existing clusters - 8

- Close contact screening - 4

- Other types of screening - 2

Perak (14 cases)

- Existing clusters - 14

Johor (10 cases)

- Existing clusters - 7

- Close contact screening - 1

- Other types of screening - 2

Malacca (6 cases)

- Existing clusters - 6

Putrajaya (3 cases)

- Existing clusters - 3

Perlis (2 cases)

- Existing clusters - 2

Kelantan (1 case)

- Existing clusters - 1

Noor Hisham said as of yesterday, 61 laboratories nationwide have the capacity to conduct 59,390 RT-PCR tests. There were 27,366 tests conducted yesterday, amounting to 46 percent of capacity.

There are currently 46 hospitals designated to treat Covid-19 patients with a total of 4,606 beds, of which 54 percent are occupied.

There are also 67 low-risk quarantine and treatment centres in operation nationwide, providing additional 13,275 beds for Covid-19 patients. Of these, 29 percent are occupied.

This meant that only 36 percent of 17,881 beds for Covid-19 patients were occupied.

As for ICU wards, Noor Hisham said there are 902 beds available at the 46 hospitals to both Covid-19 and non-Covid-19 patients.

The occupancy rate for these ICU wards is 53 percent. For the 500 beds earmarked for Covid-19 patients, however, the occupancy rate is lower at 22 percent.

There are 1,542 ventilators available at the designated hospitals, of which only 40 are in use.

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry has identified three new clusters today, all of which are in Sabah.

The Karamunting cluster was identified in Sandakan after the index cases showed symptoms and tested positive on Oct 15. So far, 21 people have tested positive out of 30 people screened.

The Saga cluster in Kota Kinabalu was detected after the index case tested positive on Nov 8 after showing symptoms. There are nine cases in the cluster so far, out of 56 people screened.

The Haven cluster in Lahad Datu, meanwhile, was detected after five people showed Covid-19 symptoms and tested positive on Nov 5. Contact tracing identified another six cases, including one case today.