COVID-19: Record high 27,831 new cases today, 99% of them have mild or no symptoms

Malaysia has recorded 27,831 new COVID-19 cases today which is a new record high. This beats the previous record of 24,599 COVID-19 cases on 26th August 2021.

Despite the sharp increase, Health Director-General Dr Noor Hisham has revealed that 99% of the new cases are category 1 and 2, where individuals experience mild or no symptoms. This leaves 97 cases or 0.35% classified as category 3, 4, and 5 which are considered severe.

In total, Malaysia has recorded an accumulative of 3,111,514 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic. Malaysia is currently experiencing a surge of new COVID-19 cases due to the arrival of the Omicron variant. Based on the predictive model shared by the Health D-G last week, Malaysia could hit over 30,000 new COVID-19 cases in a day before the end of this month if the infectivity rate (RT) hits 1.6.

Although ICU and ventilator usage for COVID-19 cases remain moderate, there’s a sharp rise in hospitalisation. Up to 5pm today, 1,269 cases were admitted to the hospital which includes 428 category 3, 4 and 5 cases, and 841 category 1 and 2 cases.

All adults are urged to get their boosters as soon as possible for optimal protection and to reduce the severity of COVID-19 when infected. Walk-in for booster vaccinations are available nationwide and individuals fully vaccinated with Sinovac are also able to get Sinovac as their preferred booster.

Malaysia has also commenced COVID-19 vaccination for children (PICKids) aged 5-11 years old this month. As of 15h February, 892,974 children have been registered and 245,869 children have received their first vaccine dose.

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