Malaysia's ICU usage rises to 84% as Covid-19 cases stay high

Usage of intensive care units for Covid-19 cases at Malaysia's hospitals rose on Tuesday (Sept 7) to 84 percent, health director-general Noor Hisham Abdullah said on Wednesday.

The nationwide usage rate was at 68 percent the previous day.

According to data tweeted by the health chief on Wednesday, hospitals in seven of Malaysia's 13 states reported that more than 90 percent of their ICU beds were being utilised for Covid-19 patients.

The northern state of Kedah was operating at overcapacity, recording 122 percent usage of its 104 ICU beds.

Other states such as Selangor, Perak, Kelantan, Penang, Johor and Perlis reported usage rates of between 91 percent and 96 percent.

Meanwhile, occupancy rates for non-ICU beds assigned for the coronavirus stood at 77 percent nationwide as at Tuesday, a slight increase from the previous day's rate of 72 percent.

With nearly 70 percent of Malaysia's adult population having received both shots of a Covid-19 vaccine, the health authorities are focusing on hospital capacity as an indicator of their success at containing the pandemic, even as daily Covid-19 cases remain stubbornly high.

Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham said 19,733 new cases were recorded on Wednesday, bringing the total number of infections since the pandemic began past the 1.9 million mark.

Sarawak made up the largest portion of cases at 3,100, while Selangor, Penang and Sabah reported over 2,000 cases each.