In his update for the week ending Dec 24, Noor Hisham said active cases decreased during the week by 13.7% to 14,580, from the 16,895 cases the week before.

Of the active cases, 13,276 individuals were undergoing home quarantine, while 806 required hospitalisation, with 42 warded in intensive care units (ICU) throughout the country.

“Recoveries dropped by 24.6% from 10,330 to 7,791,” Noor Hisham said.

“The number of deaths dropped to 31, compared with 47 the week before, bringing the cumulative figure for fatalities to 36,831.”

He said a total of 5,022,910 Covid-19 cases have been recorded in the country since January 2020.

Meanwhile, speaking on the flood disaster situation, Noor Hisham said six positive cases of Covid-19 were detected among flood evacuees over the past week, Bernama reported.

“All of them were mild cases and patients continued to be isolated at home after the temporary relief centres (PPS) were closed,” he was quoted as saying.

According to Noor Hisham, a total of 3,212 cases of infectious diseases were detected among the flood evacuees housed at the PPS, including 1,749 cases of acute respiratory infection (ARI) and skin diseases (1,232), conjunctivitis (124), acute gastroenteritis (106) and chicken pox (one).

“All reported cases are isolated cases and no infectious disease outbreaks have occurred at the PPS,” he said.