KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 23 — Unvaccinated individuals regardless of age are most at risk of suffering COVID-19 categories four and five infections and also succumbing to the disease, said Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
He said this was evident from the Health Ministry’s (MOH) data on COVID-19 categories four and five cases and deaths per population of 100,000 for the period Jan 26 to Feb 22.
“This can be seen on MOH charts and almost all age groups,” he said in a statement today which also contains charts showing that severe COVID-19 cases and deaths were more prevalent among unvaccinated individuals during that period.
According to Dr Noor Hisham, individuals who have received the booster dose enjoyed the highest level of protection from the disease.
“It is clear that cases of serious COVID-19 infections (categories three, four and five) and deaths were lower among booster dose recipients compared to the unvaccinated group or those who have completed their vaccination but have yet to get the booster shot,” he added.
On hospital bed use for COVID-19 patients in intensive care units, Dr Noor Hisham said the utilisation rate in four states had exceeded 50 per cent of capacity, with Kelantan at 78 per cent, Johor (69 per cent), Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur (62 per cent) and Melaka (54 per cent).
He said 27,179 new positive cases were recorded yesterday, with 99.37 per cent or 27,007 cases in categories one and two while 172 cases or 0.63 per cent were in categories three to five.
A total of 19,037 recoveries were registered yesterday, bringing the cumulative figure for recovered cases to 2,974,441 since the pandemic began in early 2020.
