Covid-19 (Jan 27): 5,439 cases, hospitalisation up

COVID-19 | The Health Ministry reported 5,439 new Covid-19 cases today, bringing the cumulative infections to 2,850,408.

This is the highest daily case count in 49 days since Dec 9.

They were more than the number of Covid-19 patients who recovered, which totalled 4,409. This is expected to contribute to a rise in the number of active cases.

The R-number, which indicates fast the disease is spreading, also continues to climb. The number is 1.13 as of yesterday, compared to 1.09 on the day before.

This is the highest since July 30 last year. Any number higher than 1.00 means the outbreak is growing at an accelerating pace, and would lead to an exponential increase in Covid-19 cases if sustained.

States and territories with R-numbers higher than 1.00 are Negeri Sembilan (1.18), Kedah (1.14), Johor (1.12), Selangor (1.07), Kuala Lumpur (1.07), Malacca (1.06), Kelantan (1.04), Sabah (1.02), Penang (1.02), Pahang (1.01), and Putrajaya (1.01).

• Patients in ICU: 124

• Intubated: 70

As of today, the number of Covid-19 patients (including suspected ones) in the intensive care unit (ICU) is 22.5 percent lower compared to a week ago.

Those who require intubation have also declined by 2.8 percent from a week ago.

Nationally, hospital admissions of confirmed Covid-19 patients have risen, increasing by 23.3 percent in the last seven days compared to the preceding week.

Hospital bed utilisation by Covid-19 patients remains below the 80 percent mark in all states except Malacca.

The state breakdown of new cases will only be published after midnight. These are the figures for yesterday (Jan 26), where 4,744 new cases were reported:

Selangor (1,318)
Johor (700)
Kedah (455)
Kuala Lumpur (390)
Kelantan (357)
Sabah (335)
Negeri Sembilan (311)
Pahang (256)
Penang (183)
Malacca (153)
Perak (148)
Terengganu (69)
Putrajaya (38)
Perlis (17)
Sarawak (13)
Labuan (1)

New cases have been steadily trending up over the past week in the Klang Valley and Johor.

The case count for Johor yesterday was the highest in 101 days.