Covid-19 (Jan 26): 4,744 cases, highest in 47 days

COVID-19 | The Health Ministry reported 4,744 new Covid-19 cases today, bringing the cumulative infections to 2,844,969.

They were more than the number of Covid-19 patients who recovered, which totalled 3,646. This is expected to contribute to a rise in the number of active cases.

The fresh infections today is the highest in 47 days, since Dec 10.

• Patients in ICU: 129
• Intubated: 72

As of today, the number of Covid-19 patients (including suspected ones) in the intensive care unit (ICU) is 20.4 percent lower compared to a week ago.

Those who require intubation have also declined by 4.0 percent from a week ago.

Meanwhile, the infectivity rate is holding steady at 1.09 but still above the 1.0 threshold.

If sustained at this level, it will lead to an exponential growth in fresh infections.

Previously, the Health Ministry had warned of a new wave of Covid-19 cases due to the Omicron variant.

However, the Health Ministry said its modelling suggested that hospitals will be able to cope with the surge as the variant's symptoms are less severe than the Delta variant.

Globally, the seriousness of the Omicron variant has varied. Countries that saw a significant surge in deaths largely had a lower vaccination rate.

To date, 259 Covid-19 clusters are still active, including 21 new clusters reported today.

The ongoing clusters have increased 28.9 percent from 201 active clusters a week ago.

The Health Ministry will only publish today's breakdown of new cases by states after midnight on its CovidNow portal.

The breakdown by states for yesterday (Jan 25), when 4,066 new cases were reported, is as follows:

Selangor (975)
Johor (567)
Kelantan (420)
Kuala Lumpur (378)
Kedah (367)
Sabah (314)
Penang (219)
Negeri Sembilan (201)
Pahang (194)
Malacca (194)
Perak (126)
Terengganu (59)
Putrajaya (34)
Sarawak (10)
Perlis (8)
Labuan (0)