Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia recorded an increasing trend in new Covid-19 cases for the week Jan 16-22, said health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
He said the number of new cases rose by 7.9% from 22,006 in the second week of the year (Jan 9-15) to 23,752 cases in the third week.
The average number of active cases also increased by 2.4%. However, the number of deaths showed a consistent drop of 19%, since the last week of 2021, he said in a statement yesterday.
The number of cases requiring intensive care also recorded a decline of 30.3% to 129 cases from 182 in the previous week.
As for cases requiring respiratory assistance, the figure dropped by 23.5% and has been on the decline for the past 22 weeks, while the average infectivity rate or R-naught (Rt) increased by 2% from 0.99 to 1.01.
Noor Hisham said 88 new clusters were reported in the third week, of which 62 involved educational institutions; 18 at workplaces; 4 among high-risk groups and one each involving community, religious, import and detention centre clusters.
Yesterday, he said the ministry recorded 3,214 new infections.
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