Over 80% adults vaccinated, but more deaths reported

 

By Saturday, 82.5% of Malaysia’s adult population had been vaccinated.

PETALING JAYA: It was a relatively triumphant week for the country, on two fronts.

On Tuesday, Malaysia succeeded in vaccinating 80% of its adult population and by Saturday morning, the figure stood at 82.5%.

Then the number of recoveries continued to outpace new cases of infections for seven consecutive days, continuing a trend for the second week in a row.

Nevertheless, new cases averaged over 14,000 a day, with Sarawak recording the highest number of infections for five days, while Selangor reclaimed the dubious crown on Sept 22-23.

However, Sarawak also recorded the highest number of Covid-19 infections linked to the Delta variant between Sept 13 and Sept 25 with 302 cases. This was followed closely by Selangor with 54.

The number of Covid-19 patients warded in intensive care remained high, averaging over 800 a day for the past week.

The death toll came up to 1,864 – triple the number of deaths the week before.

The surge could also be attributed to a backlog of cases, which was blamed for Sarawak’s highest daily death toll of 20 cases last Sunday.

These are the major headline stories about Covid-19 over the past week

Sabah dips below 1,000 for first time in a month

The state’s daily infections fell below the 1,000 mark for the first time in over a month after the state recorded 962 new cases in the last 24 hours.

The last time it registered cases below four figures was on Aug 4 at 949. This was 311 fewer than yesterday.

Stop! Don’t “shoot”

The health ministry said nano-mist sanitiser guns were not safe for use on people and warned of adverse health effects upon coming into contact with or breathing in the spray particles.

Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said while such sprays can be used to sanitise surfaces, their effectiveness depends on how they are used, for how long and the types of chemical used.

Backlog of death figures

Health minister Khairy Jamaluddin said BID (brough-in-dead) cases can sometimes take up to six weeks for health authorities to confirm as a Covid-19 death.

He said this was because a post-mortem would be required to determine the cause of death for each BID, contributing to the backlog in Covid-19 death reporting.

Khairy also said the massive backlog in Covid-19 deaths was caused by the surge in cases in the Klang Valley, particularly in July and August.

Vaccines for kids below 12

The health ministry has started negotiations to procure vaccines to immunise children under 12 against Covid-19.

Khairy said he has gone through the terms with a vaccine producer regarding its clinical trials on children aged 12 and below.

Cheaper Covid-19 self-test kits

Covid-19 self-test kits will soon be sold at supermarkets and mini markets, deputy domestic trade and consumer affairs minister Rosol Wahid said.

He also said that the cost of these self-test kits would be reduced even further by the end of the month, just before school reopens. - FMT