Malaysia continues to see more than 300 critical cases at intensive care units (ICUs) for the seventh day running, as hospitals in some parts of the country run out of beds.
Health Director-General Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said there were 338 cases being treated at ICU as of noon today, slightly lower than the all-time high of 352 cases reported yesterday.
Of this, 181 patients are currently placed under respiratory support. This is also the second-highest number of patients to be placed under ventilator support, since yesterday’s 186.
Noor Hisham said two days ago that the occupancy rate of ICUs in the Klang Valley hospitals had reached 90%.
In a Facebook post, he said a total of six hospitals with critical care beds and intensive care units (ICU) dedicated to treating Covid-19 patients were found to have exceeded the threshold, with bed capacity exceeding 70%.
The six are Sg Buloh hospital, Kuala Lumpur hospital, Ampang hospital, Serdang hospital, Selayang hospital and Tengku Ampuan Rahimah hospital in Klang.
He said some of these hospitals are also reaching 100% bed capacity and ICU utilisation.
Today, the Johor government announced that hospitals in the state have exceeded their ICU capacity.
The country recorded the deaths of another 23 Malaysian Covid-19 patients today, bringing its death toll so far from the disease to 1,574.
Today’s tally of Covid-19 deaths almost equalled the record number in February 2021, the most since the pandemic hit Malaysia in 2020.
Malaysia had hit a high of 24 deaths from Covid-19 on February 8, but this was eclipsed by the current record of 25 deaths reached on February 18.
Since February 18, the daily number of deaths had stayed below the figure 20, with today being the first time it has crossed over into more than 20 deaths.
The 23 deceased today were all Malaysians aged between 37 and 85, and all had pre-existing health conditions such as obesity, hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, and asthma.