Covid-19 (Jan 29): 5,139 infections, active cases climb above 50k

COVID-19 | The Health Ministry reported 5,139 new Covid-19 cases today, the second consecutive day where fresh infections are above 5,000.

Prior to the latest surge, the last time more than 5,000 new cases were reported in a day was on Dec 10.

Cumulative infections are now at 2,861,069 while active cases climbed back above 50,000 yesterday.

Today's new cases were more than the number of Covid-19 patients who recovered, which totalled 3767. This is expected to contribute to a rise in the number of active cases.

• Patients in ICU: 119
• Intubated: 69

The hospital utilisation rate stands at 62.8 percent while the intensive care utilisation rate is at 55.1 percent.

The country is facing a new surge in Covid-19 cases due to the spread of the Omicron variant.

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 28), where 5,522 new cases were reported, is as follows:

Selangor (1,656)
Johor (704)
Kedah (511)
Kuala Lumpur (480)
Sabah (358)
Malacca (357)
Kelantan (338)
Negeri Sembilan (308)
Pahang (276)
Penang (242)
Perak (151)
Terengganu (60)
Putrajaya (49)
Perlis (18)
Sarawak (11)
Labuan (3)

 [More to follow]