In his update for the week ending Oct 22, Noor Hisham said the number of Covid-19 patients admitted to public hospitals under Category 1 and 2 increased by 18.2%, while Category 3, 4 and 5 patients rose by 9.5% per 100,000 cases.

No beds were in use in low-risk quarantine and treatment centres.

Overall bed occupancy for non-critical cases increased by 1%, while the utilisation of intensive care unit (ICU) beds increased by 2%.

Active cases increased during the week by 20.7% to 37,647.

“Recoveries dropped by 0.9% from 11,180 to 11,078,” Noor Hisham said.

“The number of deaths increased by 70.6% from 17 to 129, bringing the cumulative figure for fatalities to 36,444.”

He said 4,880,005 Covid-19 cases had been recorded in the country since January 2020.