This is a round-up of Covid-19 related matters in Malaysia and globally from Jan 30 up to noon today. In Malaysia, case numbers are nearing 230,000.
KUALA LUMPUR: When daily new Covid-19 cases exceeded 5,000 three days in a row, it caused much consternation among the people.
Fortunately, the substantial number of patients who recovered from the disease over the week somewhat offset the rising anxiety over the nation’s Covid-19 situation.
Malaysia’s new case numbers exceeded 5,000 last Friday when 5,725 infections were reported. In the following two days 5,728 and 5,298 new cases were reported respectively.
On Thursday, 4,571 new cases were recorded while 4,092 patients were discharged, bringing the total number of recovered cases to 181,886 or 78.6 percent of total Covid-19 cases in the country.
The breakdown for daily new cases reported this week (Jan 30-Feb 4) is as follows: 5,728 (Jan 30), 5,298 (Jan 31), 4,214 (Feb 1), 3,455 (Feb 2), 4,284 (Feb 3) and 4,571 (Feb 4). The number of new cases reported over the week totalled 27,550.
The breakdown for recovered cases is as follows: 3,805 (Jan 30), 4,522 (Jan 31), 4,280 (Feb 1), 3,661 (Feb 2), 3,804 (Feb 3) and 4,092 (Feb 4). This week’s total number of recovered cases came up to 24,164 .
Another development that promises to bring the Covid-19 pandemic under control is the national Covid-19 immunisation programme announced by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin on Thursday.
He said 26.5 million Malaysians (80 percent of the population) will receive free Covid-19 vaccines.
The programme, set to be Malaysia’s biggest immunisation exercise, will be carried out in three phases, starting with the first phase in March and April covering healthcare and non-healthcare frontliners.
The second phase will involve the high-risk groups including senior citizens and those in the vulnerable group aged 60 and above, as well as people with disabilities. An estimated 9.4 million people will receive the vaccine under the second phase which will begin in April and go on till August this year.
The third phase, scheduled from May this year to February 2022, will cover adults aged 18 and above.
Meanwhile, as of Thursday, Malaysia’s Covid-19 active cases stood at 48,771 while its cumulative total came to 231,483.
With this, Malaysia now stood at the 50th spot (from 55th spot last Friday) in the list of 216 countries affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Just ahead of Malaysia is Croatia (with 234,153 cases) and Equador (252,390 cases).
China, where the first case involving the deadly coronavirus was reported in December 2019, is still at the 83rd spot with 89,649 cases, while Malaysia’s neighbour Singapore remains at the 93rd spot with 59,624 cases.
Malaysia is currently under the Emergency Ordinance, starting Jan 12 until Aug 1. The movement control order (MCO 2.0) that was scheduled to end on Feb 4 had been extended to Feb 18 nationwide, except Sarawak.
Burdened by workplace clusters
As of yesterday, Malaysia has recorded a total of 861 clusters out of which 440 have ended, according to the Ministry of Health (MoH).
Currently, there are 421 active clusters, 90 of which reported additional cases yesterday. Yesterday, 10 new clusters were announced, six of them related to the workplace.
The three clusters that recorded the highest number of new cases yesterday were the Persiaran Perkilangan (362 cases), Industri Serkam (201 cases) and Jalan Perindustrian (150 cases) clusters.
The breakdown of new clusters that emerged between Jan 30 and Feb 4 is as follows: 16 (Jan 30); 10 (Jan 31); 14 (Feb 1); seven (Feb 2); 13 (Feb 3); and 10 (Feb 4). Out of the 70 clusters recorded, 53 or 75.7 percent were linked to the workplace.
The emergence of many workplace clusters of late can be attributed to the screening exercises involving foreign workers, particularly those working in factories and at construction sites, which started on Dec 1, 2020.
Among the most active workplace clusters this week was the Tanjung Suria cluster (567 cases on Jan 30) involving Sepang, Gombak, Kuala Selangor and Hulu Selangor districts in Selangor. As of Thursday, this cluster has recorded a total of 1,092 cases.
Other workplace clusters reported this week are the Jalan Puchong construction site cluster (322 cases) on Feb 1; Jalan Cheras construction site cluster (332 cases); Muda construction site cluster (534 cases) on Feb 3; and Persiaran Perkilangan cluster (362 cases) on Feb 4.
The Muda construction site cluster involves Titiwangsa, Lembah Pantai and Kepong districts in Kuala Lumpur and it has recorded 2,169 cases as of Thursday.
Thursday’s covid-19 case details
Yesterday, Selangor accounted for 2,056 out of the 4,471 new Covid-19 cases reported nationwide yesterday. A total of 631 of Selangor’s new cases were from various clusters including seven cases from the new Jalan Industri Rawang, Jalan Gombak and Jalan Jasmine workplace clusters; 727 cases from the screening of close contacts; and 696 from other screenings. There were also two imported cases.
Johor reported 664 new cases and three new clusters, namely Parit Penyengat, Kampung Lukut and Jalan Jelutong clusters; Kuala Lumpur recorded 481 cases and the new Jalan Gombak cluster (involving healthcare workers and students of an institution of higher studies at Jalan Gombak).
Sarawak recorded 270 cases and the new Jalan Pengiran cluster (involving staff of a public administrative centre); Melaka 238 cases; Sabah 175 cases; Perak 163 cases; Penang 157 cases; Negeri Sembilan 100 cases and the new Permata Satu cluster (involving targeted screening of workers in a factory); and Pahang 78 cases and two new clusters – Rantau Tanjung cluster (involving attendees of a social function) and Kampung Pulau Jawa cluster (screening of symptomatic individuals).
Meanwhile, Terengganu reported 69 cases; Kedah 51; Kelantan 48; Putrajaya 20; and Labuan one.
Currently, 308 Covid-19 patients are in the intensive care unit with 135 needing respiratory aid.
On Thursday, 17 fatalities were reported, bring Malaysia’s Covid-19 death toll to 826. Thursday’s fatalities included a four-month-old baby in Sabah who had heart complications.
On Feb 2, Malaysia recorded its highest ever single-day death toll of 21 cases. Most of the deaths involved patients who suffered from other health complications such as stroke, hypertension, chronic kidney disease, diabetes and heart disease.
Meanwhile, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah posted in his personal Facebook account that the Covid-19 infectivity rate or R0/Rt for the whole nation stood at 1.09 as of yesterday. He said the three states with the highest R0/Rt values were Selangor and Johore at 1.15, followed by Sarawak at 1.10. – Bernama
