The Malaysian Insight

A TOTAL of 59,895 severely ill Covid-19 cases belonging to Category 4 and Category 5 were reported from April to June 13, which resulted in 1,413 deaths, Health Minister Dr Adham Baba said today.

These two categories are the two most severe stages of the infection, in which patients require intensive care and oxygen support.

Adham said within the first 13 days of this month, 22,857 cases belonging to Category 4 and 5 were reported, which was 30.8% of the overall caseload of 74,254 during that period. There were 562 deaths from these categories during this period.

He said only 6,751 cases in these categories were reported nationwide in April, and the numbers then increased to 30,287 cases in May.

From April to June 13, the total number of Covid-19 cases was 301,111 and cases from these two categories were 59,895, or 19.9%, he said at a press conference today.

As for fatalities among patients in these categories, there were 146 deaths in April and 705 in May.

He also said that between March 2020 and June 13, the number of Category 4 and Category 5 cases stood at 104,122.

There are five categories of Covid-19 infections: One is positive cases with no symptoms, two is positive cases with mild symptoms, three is positive cases with pneumonia, four is pneumonia cases that require oxygen and five is for cases that require breathing assistance.

Meanwhile, of the 1,767 intensive care unit (ICU) beds nationwide, 1,161 are currently occupied.

According to the Health Ministry’s weekly epidemiological report, 914 ICU cases with 459 requiring ventilator support were reported last week.

A total of 553 deaths were reported with an average of 79 fatalities a day.

There were 41,630 new cases with an average of 5,947 cases reported a day in the period under review. – June 14, 2021.