This is a weekly round-up of Covid-19 related matters in Malaysia and globally from June 12 up to noon today. In Malaysia, case numbers have exceeded 670,000 and globally, the virus has infected more than 178 million people and caused over 3.8 million deaths. More than 216 countries and territories are affected by the pandemic.
New Covid-19 cases reported daily over this week have remained under 6,000 while the recovery rate is nearing 90 percent.
Yesterday, Malaysia recorded 5,738 new cases, bringing its cumulative total to 678,764. The nation has also been reporting over 6,000 recoverees daily, leading to a steady drop in its active caseload to 66,097 yesterday.
Selangor, as usual, continued to record the highest number of new cases. Yesterday, it reported 1,858 cases, followed by Negeri Sembilan with 1,086 cases and Kuala Lumpur with 641 cases.
On June 14, Malaysia reported 4,949 new cases, the lowest number in recent weeks. The last time it recorded around 4,000 cases was on May 18 this year (4,865 cases).
The current developments, hopefully, are an indication that the transmission of the deadly coronavirus is finally under control following the enforcement of the full movement control order (MCO) on June 1. The first two-week phase ended on June 14 and currently, the second phase, up to June 28, is in force.
Malaysia recorded a whopping 9,020 new cases on May 29, the highest-ever single-day figure since the coronavirus was detected in Malaysia on Jan 25, 2020.
Following is the daily breakdown of new cases during the week under review (June 12 to 17): June 12 (5,793), June 13 (5,304), June 14 (4,949), June 15 (5,419), June 16 (5,150) and June 17 (5,738).
Meanwhile, the daily number of patients recovering from Covid-19 this week exceeded new infections. The highest number of recoverees was recorded on June 12 (8,334 cases).
Yesterday, 7,530 patients recovered, bringing the total number of recovered cases to 608,465 (89.64 percent of total cases).
Following is the daily breakdown of recovered cases during the week under review: June 12 (8,334), June 13 (8,163), June 14 (6,588), June 15 (6,831), June 16 (7,240) and June 17 (7,530).
Yesterday, 909 cases were in the intensive care unit with 441 of them requiring respiratory aid.
With its cumulative 678,764 cases, Malaysia now occupied the 38th spot in the list of 216 nations affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Just ahead of Malaysia is Switzerland with 701,260 cases.
Workplace, community clusters
This week, workplaces continued to be a hotbed of Covid-19 infections, and out of the 25 new clusters reported by the Ministry of Health (MOH) yesterday, 20 were linked to places of work.
As of June 14, there were a total of 1,328 workplace clusters nationwide and out of the 624,246 individuals screened, a total of 147,040 tested positive for Covid-19.
Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a media statement on June 14 that the bulk of cases arising from workplace clusters comprised non-citizens (100,086 or 68 percent).
The manufacturing sector accounted for the highest number of cases from workplace clusters, that is, 95,156 cases from 639 clusters.
As of yesterday, Malaysia recorded a total of 2,557 clusters, out of which 1,762 have ended while 795 were still active.
Following is the breakdown of the new clusters that emerged this week:
June 12-24 clusters (workplace 15, community seven and detention centres two);
June 13-15 clusters (workplace 11, community three and education one);
June 14-17 clusters (workplace 12, community four and high-risk group one);
June 15-19 clusters (workplace 14, community four and high-risk group one);
June 16-19 clusters (workplace 10, community five and high-risk group four); and
June 17-25 clusters (workplace 20, community four and education one).
To curb the transmission of Covid-19 at workplaces (manufacturing sector), the government kicked off the implementation of the Public-Private Partnership Industrial Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (Pikas) yesterday.
Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin was recently quoted as saying that Pikas has the capacity to bring under control Covid-19 transmissions in the manufacturing sector, thus enabling the smooth implementation of the National Recovery Plan which he announced on June 15.
Community clusters, meanwhile, have also been on the rise. Among the clusters that reported a high number of cases on June 15 was the Desa Rejang cluster in Titiwangsa, Kuala Lumpur. It reported 260 positive cases out of the 491 individuals screened. The Desa Rejang Public Housing scheme has been placed under enhanced movement control Order from June 18 to July 1.
The Gran Stumbin cluster in Sri Aman, Sarawak, is among the biggest community clusters reported in the state. On June 16, it recorded 82 positive cases out of the 620 individuals screened.
The Gran Stumbin settlement comprises several longhouses and the source of infection was traced to a funeral that took place at one of the longhouses on June 6.
Other developments
In his media statement yesterday, Noor Hisham said 60 more deaths due to Covid-19 were reported yesterday, bringing Malaysia’s death tally to 4,202 (0.62 percent of total cases).
Following is the daily breakdown of fatalities reported this week:
June 12: 76 cases, of which 13 were BID (brought in dead, that is, death occurred outside health facilities and the bodies were confirmed Covid-19 positive via RT-PCR tests);
June 13: 64 cases (BID 11);
June 14: 60 cases (BID nine);
June 15: 101 cases (BID 16);
June 16: 73 cases (BID 15); and
June 17: 60 cases (BID nine).
Local transmissions
Local Covid-19 transmissions are still plaguing new case numbers in Malaysia.
Following is the breakdown of new cases, local transmissions and imported cases over this week:
June 12 – new cases 5,793, local transmissions 5,787 and imported cases six;
June 13 – new cases 5,304, local transmissions 5,299 and imported cases five;
June 14 – new cases 4,949, local transmissions 4,943 and imported cases six;
June 15 – new cases 5,419, local transmissions 5,413 and imported cases six;
June 16 – new cases 5,150, local transmissions 5,147 and imported cases three; and
June 17 – new cases 5,738, local transmissions 5,735 and imported cases three.
Noor Hisham said in a posting in his personal Facebook account yesterday that the Covid-19 infectivity rate or R0/Rt value remained at 0.95 nationwide. For the record, the R0 value has consistently remained below 1.0 since June 6.
Yesterday, Negeri Sembilan recorded the highest R0 value at 1.09, followed by Labuan at 1.04 and Sabah 1.03.
Malaysia's case details
Yesterday, Selangor accounted for 1,858 of the new COVID-19 cases reported nationwide. A total of 945 cases were from the screening of close contacts; 700 from other screenings; and 212 from clusters. There was one imported case.
Selangor reported the following number of new cases daily during the week under review: June 12 (1,582), June 13 (1,973), June 14 (1,523), June 15 (1,996), June 16 (1,914) and June 17 (1,858).
The state with the second-highest number of new cases yesterday was Negeri Sembilan with 1,086 cases. A total of 444 cases were from the screening of close contacts, 382 from clusters and 250 from other screenings.
Kuala Lumpur reported 641 new cases, followed by Sarawak (559), Johor (449), Sabah (248), Kedah (197), Malacca (184) and Kelantan (154).
Penang, meanwhile, recorded 97 cases, Labuan (97), Terengganu (77), Pahang (54), Perak (30) and Putrajaya seven. Perlis did not report any new case yesterday.
Global Covid-19 statistics
The total number of Covid-19 cases worldwide, according to Worldometer, at the time of writing this article stood at 178,195,929 (175,686,673 cases at the same time last Friday) and deaths 3,857,794 (3,790,463 last Friday). The total number of recoveries stood at 162,692,754.
Some 216 countries are affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and those in the top 10 of the list are the United States, India, Brazil, France, Turkey, Russia, the United Kingdom, Italy, Argentina and Colombia. The breakdown is as follows: United States 34,377,592 cases (616,440 deaths); India 29,761,964 (383,521), Brazil 17,704,041 (496,172), France 5,749,691 (110,634), Turkey 5,354,153 (49,102), Russia 5,264,047 (127,992), United Kingdom 4,600,623 (127,945), Italy 4,249,755 (127,190), Argentina 4,222,400 (87,789) and Colombia 3,859,824 (98,156).
China, where the outbreak was first reported at end-December 2019, is now on the 99th spot in the list of countries affected by Covid-19 with 91,534 cases while its death toll remains at 4,636.
Besides Malaysia, the four other Southeast Asian nations that have joined the list of 95 countries with more than 100,000 cases are Indonesia (18th spot) with 1,950,276 cases and 53,753 deaths, the Philippines (24th spot) with 1,339,457 cases and 23,276 deaths, Thailand (78th spot) with 210,782 cases and 1,577 deaths and Myanmar (86th spot) with 146,768 cases and 3,250 deaths.
Singapore (110th spot) has reported 62,366 cases and 34 deaths; Cambodia 40,782 cases and 380 deaths; Vietnam 12,150 cases and 61 deaths; Laos 2,034 cases and three deaths; and Brunei 250 cases and three deaths.
Covid-19 background
The World Health Organisation’s 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 newly detected 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, 2020, 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, 2020, WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak as a global emergency and on March 11, COVID-19 was declared a pandemic.
WHO has described the Covid-19 outbreak as much 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. It was first detected in Mexico and later in the United States in March 2009.
Covid-19 was detected in Malaysia on Jan 25, 2020, when three Chinese citizens, who had entered Malaysia through Johore from Singapore on Jan 23, were tested positive for the disease.
New variants of the Covid-19 coronavirus have since emerged in the United Kingdom (identified as B117) in September 2020, South Africa (501Y.V2) in October 2020 and India (B.1.617), also in October last year.
- Bernama
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