KL Covid-19 Hospital Admissions Up 77% Last Week

National Covid-19 hospital admissions rose 24% last week, with Kuala Lumpur recording the most admissions in Malaysia at 511 cases and the biggest increase at 77% from the previous week.

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 1 — A total of 511 people were admitted into hospital for Covid-19 in Kuala Lumpur last week, a 77.4 per cent increase from 288 admissions the previous week.

These 511 hospital admissions for Covid-19 in the fourth epidemiological week of the year (January 23 to 29) comprised 18 per cent of 2,856 coronavirus infections reported in the capital city that week.

This 18 per cent hospitalisation rate exceeded the 13 per cent hospitalisation rate reported during the January 16-22 week in Kuala Lumpur that saw 288 admissions of 2,283 infections.

While Covid-19 hospital admissions in Kuala Lumpur rose about 77 per cent last week from the previous week, infections increased only by about 25 per cent.

Kuala Lumpur ranked highest in the country in terms of new Covid-19 hospital admissions last week and the percentage of increase in admissions, compared to the previous week of January 16 to 22.

About 44 per cent of hospital beds in the capital city were occupied by Covid-19 patients as of January 30, according to the CovidNow website.

No other states or federal territories recorded above 50 per cent increases in hospital admissions for the virus last week. 

Malaysia as a whole saw a 23.5 per cent increase in Covid-19 hospital admissions last week, from 2,101 admissions in the January 16-22 week to 2,594 admissions in the January 23-29 week. 

The nationwide hospitalisation rate was 9 per cent in the January 16-22 week with 2,101 newly hospitalised of 23,752 infections, before declining to 8 per cent last week with 2,594 hospital admissions of 31,980 infections.  

Amid warnings from health authorities about the new wave of the highly contagious Omicron variant, reported Covid-19 cases in Malaysia increased 34.6 per cent last week from the previous week, a higher rate of increase than the 23.5 per cent rise in admissions.

According to the CovidNow website, as of January 30, about 59 per cent of hospital beds nationwide are occupied, including 31 per cent for Covid-19 patients.

Johor recorded the second highest number of Covid-19 hospital admissions in the past week and a 47.9 per cent increase in admissions from 282 admissions in the January 16-22 week to 417 admissions last week.

The southern state, which is due for a state election, saw a 47.3 per cent increase in new Covid-19 infections in that period from 3,078 to 4,533 cases. 

Johor’s Covid-19 hospitalisation rate remained at 9 per cent both weeks, indicating that a rise in infections similarly corresponded with more hospital admissions.   

Kelantan’s Covid-19 hospital admissions increased 30.5 per cent from 174 admissions in the January 16-22 week to 227 admissions in the January 23-29 week, while Covid-19 cases only increased around 15 per cent from 2,068 to 2,314 cases in the same period.

Kedah reported a 28.9 per cent increase in Covid-19 hospital admissions from 97 in Epid Week 3 to 125 in Epid Week 4. Covid-19 infections in the northern state increased 41.7 per cent from 2,037 to 2,887 in the same period.

Negeri Sembilan experienced a 21 per cent increase in Covid-19 hospital admissions last week, just below Malaysia’s average of 23.5 per cent. Reported infections in the urban state rose 40.7 per cent.

In the week of January 16 to 22, Negeri Sembilan reported 257 Covid-19 hospital admissions out of 1,440 reported Covid-19 cases, increasing to 311 admissions out of 2,026 infections in the week of January 23 to 29. 

Penang, Melaka, Sabah, Perlis, and Pahang saw an increase in Covid-19 hospital admissions last week compared to the previous week at 20.59 per cent, 12.20 per cent, 12.06 per cent, 8.33 per cent, and 5.88 per cent respectively. 

Hospital admissions for Covid-19 in Selangor, Perak, Terengganu, Sarawak, Putrajaya, and Labuan declined last week from the previous week.

Sarawak reported 37 Covid-19 hospital admissions out of 94 reported Covid-19 infections in Epid Week 3, compared to 21 admissions of 103 cases in Epid Week 4. This amounted to a 43.2 per cent decline in admissions, the biggest drop in the country. 

Sarawak’s 39 per cent hospitalisation rate in the January 16-22 week declined to 20 per cent in the January 23-29 week. Unlike other states, however, Sarawak counts high-risk asymptomatic and mild people with Covid-19 isolating in quarantine centres in its admission data, not just seriously ill cases.

Labuan’s Covid-19 hospital admissions dropped by a third from just three in the January 16-22 week to two in the January 23-29 week. Coronavirus cases fell by 15 per cent from 40 to 34 in the same period.

Terengganu reduced its Covid-19 hospital admissions last week by 15.5 per cent from the previous week. The east coast state in the peninsula reported 71 Covid-19 hospital admissions out of 428 infections in the January 16-22 week, compared to 60 admissions out of 453 reported cases in the January 23-29 week.

Areas with a slight decrease in Covid-19 hospital admissions last week were Putrajaya, Perak, and Selangor with 11.1 per cent, 5.6 per cent and 2.1 per cent reductions respectively.

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