COVID-19 WEEKLY ROUND-UP
This is a round-up of Covid-19 related matters in Malaysia and globally from July 18 up to 12.30 pm yesterday. In Malaysia, case numbers have exceeded 8,800 and globally, the virus has infected more than 15 million people and caused over 600,000 deaths. More than 200 countries and territories are affected by the pandemic.
KUALA LUMPUR: This week’s active Covid-19 cases escalated to three digits while daily new local transmissions hovered around single- and double-digit figures.
No deaths were recorded this week and the toll remains at 123 or 1.39 percent of total cases in the nation.
The upward trend in local transmissions has prompted the government to make it compulsory for everyone to wear a mask when in public places and on public transportation starting Aug 1.
Effective yesterday, all those returning to Malaysia from overseas will have to undergo mandatory 14-day quarantine at a hotel or quarantine centre in order to prevent the emergence of imported clusters such as the Novgorod PUI cluster (Russia), Shirala PUI cluster (India) and Pitakwa PUI cluster (Nigeria).
Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the increase in daily new Covid-19 cases and clusters is most probably due to complacency and non-compliance with the government’s directives and advice with regard to its efforts to check the spread of the disease.
At a media briefing last Thursday in Putrajaya, he pointed out to photographs ── that have gone viral on social media ── of certain individuals wearing the Covid-19 PUS (people under surveillance) wristband in public places although they have been placed under the Home Surveillance Order.
In a special address last Monday, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin also expressed his concern over the rising Covid-19 cases, saying that 13 new clusters have emerged since the start of the recovery movement control order (RMCO) period.
As of last Thursday, there were 19 clusters with three of them recording new cases – Sentosa cluster, Sarawak (eight cases), Stutong cluster, Sarawak (seven cases) and Kuching engineering cluster, Sarawak (three cases).
Between April 3 and July 23, a total of 711 Malaysians returning from overseas were confirmed Covid-19 positive.
Previously, the Ministry of Health had declared that a total of 60 clusters had ended. These included Malaysia’s biggest Covid-19 cluster, namely Seri Petaling cluster comprising 3,375 cases and 34 deaths.
Over the 24-hour period up to noon last Thursday, nine new cases were reported, bringing the total number of Covid-19 cases in the country to 8,840 with active cases rising to 143.
Three of Thursday’s new cases were imported and they involved one Malaysian citizen and two non-citizens who were allowed into the country on work-related matters.
The six remaining new cases were local transmissions involving four Malaysians and two non-citizens.
FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS
Last Thursday, eight more patients were discharged, bringing the total number of recovered cases to 8,574 (97 percent of total Covid-19 cases in the country).
Currently, five patients are being treated in the intensive care unit with two requiring respiratory aid.
At Thursday’s media briefing, Dr Noor Hisham also said that the Covid-19 R-naught had increased from 0.3 during the movement control order to 1.36 currently.
R-naught refers to the reproductive number indicating how contagious a disease is or how easily it can spread from one person to another.
“If the R-naught is increasing, it means that more people will get infected. If the figure goes up to 1.6 from 1.36 currently, we will be facing a spike in cases,” said Dr Noor Hisham.
For the record, on July 1, 8 and 9 Malaysia recorded zero local transmissions although one, three and six imported cases were recorded respectively on those days.
WHO AND GLOBAL SITUATION
World Health Organisation (WHO) director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, meanwhile, expressed his concern that although people of all walks of life are affected by Covid-19, the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people, including indigenous peoples in urban and remote areas, are especially at risk.
Speaking at his weekly Covid-19 media briefing in Geneva, Switzerland, on Monday, he said there were 500 million indigenous peoples worldwide in more than 90 countries.
WHO, he said, was very worried about the impact of the coronavirus on indigenous peoples in the Americas, which remains the current epicentre of the pandemic.
As of July 6, more than 70,000 cases and 2000 deaths have been reported among indigenous peoples in the Americas.
Most recently, at least six cases have been reported among the Nahua people, who live in the Peruvian Amazon region.
Dr Tedros said WHO Regional Office is for the Americas recently published recommendations for preventing and responding to Covid-19 among indigenous peoples.
WHO is also working with the Coordinator of Indigenous Organisations of the Amazon River Basin to step up the fight against Covid-19.
WORLDWIDE STATISTICS
According to CoronaTracker (which cites figures from various agencies including WHO), the total number of Covid-19 cases worldwide at the time of writing this article stood at 15,651,911 with 636,470 deaths. The total number of recoveries stood at 9,535,342.
The United States continues to head the list of badly-hit nations with 4,169,991 cases (3,695,469 cases at this time last week) and 147,333 fatalities.
Brazil is on the second spot with 2,289,951 cases and 84,207 fatalities. India is on the third spot with 1,288,130 cases and 30,645 deaths. Russia is fourth with 795,038 cases and 12,892 deaths.
Another 19 countries have recorded cases exceeding 100,000, namely
South Africa 408,052 cases (6,093 deaths), Peru 371,096 (17,654), Mexico 370,712 (41,908), Chile 338,759 (8,838), Spain 317,246 (28,429), United Kingdom 297,146 (45,554), Iran 284,034 (15,074), Pakistan 269,191 kes (5,709 kematian), Saudi Arabia 260,394 (2,635), Italy 245,338 (35,092), Turkey 223,315 (5,563 Colombia 226,373 (7,688), Bangladesh 216,110 (2,801) Germany 205,142 (9,187), France 179,398 (30,182), Argentina 148,027 (2,072), Canada 112,672 (8,874), Qatar 108,244 (164) and Iraq 102,226 (4,122).
China, where the outbreak was first reported at end-December 2019, is now on the 26th spot with 83,750 cases and 4,634 deaths.
In Southeast Asia, Indonesia has the highest number of cases at 93,657 and 4,576 deaths. The Philippines is on the second spot with 74,390 cases and 1,871 deaths. Singapore has reported 49,098 cases and 27 deaths.
Thailand has 3,269 cases (58 deaths), Vietnam 412 cases (0), Myanmar 343 cases (six) and Cambodia 202 (0)
No new cases were recorded this week in Brunei (141 cases and two deaths) and Laos (19 cases and no death).
COVID-19 BACKGROUND
According to the WHO website, its China country office was informed of cases of pneumonia that were detected in Wuhan on Dec 31, 2019. On Jan 7, the Chinese authorities confirmed that the novel coronavirus can be transmitted from human to human.
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that cause illnesses ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-COV).
A study of the virus’ genetic sequence suggested similarities to that seen in snakes and bats. China health officials identified the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan as the source of the transmission of the coronavirus.
On Feb 11, WHO announced the official name of the virus, COVID-19, which is an acronym for coronavirus 2019 – CO stands for corona, VI for virus and D for disease.
On Jan 30, WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak as a global emergency. By then, it had spread to 18 countries and caused 170 deaths. On March 11, Covid-19 was declared a pandemic by WHO.
WHO has described the Covid-19 outbreak as 10 times more dangerous than the A H1N1 Influenza, also known as Swine Flu.
Swine Flu, which occurred between January 2009 and August 2010, infected more than 1.6 million people and caused 18,449 fatalities.
The International Monetary Fund has warned that the global economic recession caused by the Covid-19 pandemic will be worse than the Great Depression of the 1930s. – Bernama
