Kedah hits 800 cases because SOPs were not followed, says MB

 

Kedah menteri besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor said the state should see a steep decline after it achieves herd immunity through vaccinations. (Bernama pic)

GEORGE TOWN: Kedah today recorded its biggest jump of daily Covid-19 cases to 800 – the highest in the northern region states to date – with more than half of that number from close contacts alone.

Menteri besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor said that while the sharp rise in cases was expected, given the ramped-up testing through contact tracing, the 480 cases from close contact cases show that many are disobeying SOPs.

“The current increase in numbers is due to new close contact cases, which means SOPs are not being followed,” he said.

He said that with the vaccination rate in the state at about 15% of the 1.76 million target population (out of a total population of 2 million), an urgent push for vaccines was needed for the state.

Sanusi said infections among those vaccinated showed that most were in the first and second category, and were either asymptomatic or had mild symptoms, showing that the vaccine was helping to reduce deaths.

“We need to focus on treating more severe levels of the disease, with self-quarantine for those in the first and second stages. All states in the country, including Kedah, are seeing a rise in cases due to contact tracing and testing.

“Our positivity rate in Kedah has not exceeded 10%, we are now hovering at around 7% to 8.5%. I believe after we achieve herd immunity through vaccination, we will see more serious cases going down steeply,” he told FMT.

In neighbouring Penang, where daily case numbers have gone from over 500 two weeks ago before going down to the mid-400s to 362 today, the state government said it was mostly from contact tracing from factories.

State executive councillor Jagdeep Singh Deo said Penang’s free mass testing at hotspots since early this month was not the cause of the numbers to spike, as only 1% to 2% tested were found positive. He said this mass testing was very effective and was conducted together with the state health department.

“The main source of daily cases are from factories. At our mass testing sites, we immediately isolate those who are Covid-19 positive to stop any further spread. We hope that the vaccination programme can further improve the situation,” he said.

As of yesterday, a total of 16.2% of the target 1.3 million Penang population has been vaccinated, out of a 1.7 million population in the state. - FMT