BY MELATI MOHD ARIFF
This is a round-up of Covid-19 related matters in Malaysia from Feb 13 up to noon today. Globally, the virus has infected more than 110 million people with a body count of more than 2.4 million. The pandemic has affected 216 countries and in Malaysia, case numbers have exceeded 274,000.
KUALA LUMPUR: Developments on the Covid-19 front this week have enabled Malaysians to see a light at the end of the tunnel.
Not only has there been a downward trend in new cases during the week under review (Feb 13-18), Malaysia’s first batch of vaccine supply from Pfizer-BioNTech is also expected to arrive this Sunday.
Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin will be the first to get the vaccine shot on Feb 26 when the National Covid-19 Immunisation programme rolls out.
To be implemented over three phases, the comprehensive programme will allow the population to develop herd immunity which will help to break the chain of transmission of the deadly coronavirus.
Apart from the decline in new Covid-19 cases from more than 4,000 to around 3,000 to 2,000 a day, daily recovery figures have also shot up.
The highest number of recovered cases – 5,718 – was reported on Tuesday.
On Thursday, 5,320 patients were discharged, bringing the total number of recovered cases to 235,082 (85.5 percent of total Covid-19 cases in the country).
The daily breakdown of recovered cases over the week is as follows: 3,515 (Feb 13); 4,525 (Feb 14); 4,521 (Feb 15); 5,718 (Feb 16); 5,709 (Feb 17); and 5,320 (Thursday).
On the same day, 2,712 new Covid-19 infections were recorded, bringing the total number of cases in Malaysia to 274,875. The number of active cases now stood at 38,763.
The breakdown for the daily new cases reported this week is as follows: 3,499 (Feb 13); 2,464 (Feb 14); 2,176 (Feb 15); 2,720 (Feb 16); 2,998 (Feb 17); and 2,712 (Thursday).
45TH SPOT
With its total of 274,875 cases, Malaysia now stood at the 45th spot in the list of 216 countries affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Just ahead of Malaysia is Slovakia with 285,419 cases.
China, where the first case involving the coronavirus was reported in December 2019, is at the 84th spot with 89,816 cases, while Malaysia’s neighbour Singapore remains at the 94th spot with 59,832 cases.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah posted on his personal Facebook account yesterday that the projected Covid-19 infectivity rate or R-naught (R0/Rt) value nationwide was 0.90 as of Thursday.
It came as a shock when daily cases spiked to over 5,000 for three days in a row at the end of last month. On Jan 29, 5,725 new cases were reported, the following day 5,728 cases and on Jan 31, 5,298 cases.
CLUSTERS
Workplace clusters continued to dominate the list of new clusters that emerged this week.
The clusters were detected following targeted screening and screening of close contacts and symptomatic individuals, as well as the screening of individuals prior to departure to their country of origin.
Large-scale screening of employees, particularly migrant workers at factories and construction sites, started on Dec 1, 2020.
According to Ministry of Health statistics, Selangor and Johor continued to account for the bulk of the new clusters reported, mostly involving factories and construction sites.
As of Thursday, Malaysia recorded a total of 1,045 Covid-19 clusters, out of which 539 have ended.
Currently, 506 clusters are active and 94 of them have reported new cases. The three clusters that reported the highest number of new cases yesterday were Kebun Baru cluster (188), Jalan Changkat Jong cluster (158) and Selambau cluster (155).
The Kebun Baru cluster involved factory workers in Kuala Langat district, Selangor, and was first detected on Dec 24, 2020.
The Selambau workplace cluster, detected on Feb 12, involves a factory in Kuala Muda, Kedah.
17 new clusters were recorded on Thursday, 14 of which involved the workplace. The remaining three involved a high-risk group, a religious group and the community.
Among the workplace clusters that reported a high number of positive cases on Thursday was the Jalan Changkat Jong cluster involving the workers of a factory in Hilir Perak and Perak Tengah districts. Out of the 471 workers screened, 166 tested positive.
COVID-19 CASE DETAILS
Selangor continues to contribute to the highest number of new Covid-19 cases reported nationwide daily. On Thursday, Selangor accounted for 1,013 out of the 2,712 new infections reported. The state also recorded five new clusters on the same day.
Johor reported 426 new cases and five new clusters on Thursday; Kuala Lumpur 212 cases and one new cluster; Sarawak 200 cases; and Perak 198 cases and one new cluster.
Kedah, meanwhile, reported 182 new cases on Thursday; Sabah 114 cases and two new clusters; Negeri Sembilan 81 cases; Penang 116 cases and one new cluster; Pahang 52 and one new cluster; Kelantan 43; Melaka 38; Terengganu 19; Putrajaya seven; Perlis six; and Labuan five.
On Thursday, 25 fatalities were reported and Malaysia’s Covid-19 death toll now stood at 1,030 (0.37 percent of total cases). A total of 227 patients are in the intensive care unit with 103 requiring respiratory aid.
Malaysia’s highest single-day death toll (24) was recorded on Feb 8 and on Feb 17, 22 deaths were reported.
The nation’s oldest fatality was Case 1,000, who was 100 years old and passed away at Hospital Sungai Buloh on Feb 17. The patient also had hypertension and asthma.
According to MoH, most of the Covid-19 fatalities involved cases with health complications such as stroke, hypertension, chronic kidney disease, diabetes and heart disease. Some of the deaths involved patients who suffered from dyslipidemia, asthma, obesity and anaemia.
For the record, the daily death toll reported this week is as follows: five (Feb 13); seven (Feb 14); 10 (Feb 15); eight (Feb 16); 22 (Feb 17); and 25 (Thursday).
IMMUNISATION PROGRAMME
The National Covid-19 Immunisation programme, meanwhile, will be implemented in three phases. Eighty percent or 26.5 million Malaysians are expected to benefit from the vaccines which will be given to them free.
The first phase (February-April 2021) involves Priority Group 1 frontliners comprising public and private healthcare personnel; and Priority Group 2 frontliners consisting of essential services, defence and security personnel. Both these groups will involve an estimated 500,000 people.
The second phase (April to August 2021) involves Priority Group 1 comprising remaining healthcare workers, as well as those in the essential services, defence and security sectors; and Priority Group 2 consisting of senior citizens aged 60 and above, high-risk group with chronic illnesses such as heart disease, obesity, diabetes and hypertension, as well as people with disabilities. These two groups will involve around 9.4 million people.
The third phase (May 2021 to February 2022) will involve individuals aged 18 and above (citizens and non-citizens). Priority will be given to those residing in red and yellow zones and later green zones. Under this phase, 13.7 million people are expected to be immunised.
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 18 has been extended to March 4 in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Johor and Penang.
Conditional MCO has been enforced from Feb 19 to March 4 in Sabah, Pahang, Negeri Sembilan, Terengganu, Kelantan, Perak, Melaka, Kedah, Labuan and Putrajaya. Perlis, meanwhile, is under Recovery MCO. ― Bernama
