Noor Hisham said that from March 22 to May 1, Selangor recorded 22,099, or 27.7%, of the country’s total number of Covid-19 cases (79,881). Kuala Lumpur recorded 7,019 cases (8.8%) while Putrajaya recorded 264 cases (0.3%).

And while the country’s infectivity rate is currently at 1.14, Selangor’s stands at 1.20, Kuala Lumpur’s is 1.16 and Putrajaya’s is 1.0.

“The health ministry finds that the increase in Covid-19 cases, and the rate at which healthcare capacity in the Klang Valley is being used, very concerning,” he said in a statement.

“If this increasing trend of Covid-19 cases continues, the Klang Valley’s healthcare capacity will soon be at a critical level, and this will negatively affect the delivery of healthcare services in general.”

He said of the 277 intensive care unit (ICU) beds for Covid-19 and non-Covid-19 patients in the Klang Valley, 152 are being used for Covid-19 patients – with a current usage of more than 88%.

“The use of critical/ICU beds at Hospital Sungai Buloh, Hospital Kuala Lumpur, Hospital Ampang, Hospital Serdang and Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Klang are now more than 70%,” he said. “At Hospital Selayang and University Malaya Medical Centre, they are reporting that the use of critical/ICU beds is now more than 50%,” he added.

He said this was due to the 62% increase in critical cases compared to the same period two weeks ago.

Apart from transferring patients to hospitals that have more vacancies, Noor Hisham said the Sungai Buloh hospital is increasing the number of critical/ICU beds in phases to meet the increased need.

Elective surgeries and procedures are to be reduced or postponed, thus allowing more beds to be used to treat Covid-19 patients. Beds in regular wards will also be repurposed to critical beds, with 80 beds refunctioned thus far.

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