COVID-19: 3,510 fresh cases, R-naught at 0.91

THE Health Ministry reported 3,510 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday (Dec 23), a slight decrease from the previous day’s 3,519 cases. 

This brings the cumulative infections in the country to 2,731,713. 

In a statement, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said that of the new COVID-19 cases, 3,451 (98.3%) were mild and asymptomatic infections in Categories one and two, while the remaining 59 (1.7%) were from Categories three, four and five. 

Categories one and two refer to patients with mild symptoms or none at all, category three refers to patients with pneumonia, while patients in categories four and five require oxygen and need ventilators, respectively. 

As of yesterday, the national R-naught for COVID-19 is 0.91 with the R-naught in all states below 1.00. 

An R-naught of 1.00 suggests an outbreak that has plateaued, while a figure above that indicates an outbreak that is accelerating its growth. 

Meanwhile, according to the CovidNow website, 4,998 patients have recovered, bringing the total to 2,652,585. 

There were 44 deaths, including 10 that were brought in dead (BID), thus bringing the death tally to 31,265. 

Of the current cases, 329 cases required treatment in intensive care units (ICU) and 179 cases needed respiratory assistance. – Dec 24, 2021 

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