In his update for the week ending Nov 5, Noor Hisham said the increase in cases also saw a rise in the number of people admitted to public hospitals and quarantine centres.

The number of hospital admissions rose by 26.1% per population of 100,000 compared with the preceding week.

Overall bed occupancy for non-critical cases rose by 8%, while utilisation of intensive care unit (ICU) beds increased by 4%.

Admission of Category 3, 4 and 5 patients to public hospitals also rose by 37.4%.

Noor Hisham said there are currently 33,449 active cases.

“Recoveries increased by 53.5% from 13,495 to 20,718.

“The number of deaths increased by 45% from 20 cases to 29, bringing the cumulative figure for fatalities to 36,493 cases,” he said in a statement.

He also said 4,923,538 Covid-19 cases have been recorded in the country since January 2020.