States over 40pct fully vaccinated see decrease in severe Covid-19 cases: PM

 

States that have fully vaccinated more than 40 percent of their adult population have seen a corresponding decrease in Covid-19 patients with severe symptoms, said Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

The premier noted that there have been early positive developments from the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (NIP) in several locations including Labuan, Sarawak, Negeri Sembilan, Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya.

“The data collected by the Health Ministry has shown that so far, all the states mentioned have started to show a decrease in cases between Category 3 and 5 when the full Covid-19 vaccine dosage for the adult population reached above 40 percent,” Muhyiddin said in a statement today.

He also pointed out that Labuan, which had fully vaccinated 88.1 percent of its adult population, did not record any new Covid-19 cases yesterday.

The situation at emergency departments of hospitals in the Klang Valley also showed improvements, based on data from the Crisis Preparedness Response Centre (CPRC), he added.

This is a result of the Operation Surge Capacity in the Klang Valley, which was focused on ramping up vaccination efforts in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor.

Klang Valley has reached 64.7 percent of its adult population who are fully vaccinated.

On July 31, the average number of patients waiting at emergency departments in Klang Valley was 909 people, he said.

“Alhamdullilah, as a result of the government’s careful planning and implementation by the Health Ministry, along with the effects of vaccination, the average number of patients waiting (at emergency departments) have decreased to 239 people on Aug 13.”

While Muhyiddin hopes this decreasing trend will continue and help with the number of patients requiring intensive care, he noted that the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) is still full as patients there usually need longer treatment.

Meanwhile, the premier said they will try to boost vaccination efforts in other states as well, with the government sending 2 million vaccine doses to Johor recently and 1.5 million doses will be sent to Sabah this month.

“I would like to repeat that the government’s strategy is clear, the more who are fully vaccinated, the more Malaysian residents will be protected from serious infections, the less the burden will be on our public healthcare system and the more economic and social sectors can be opened, so we can return in stages to the new norm,” he added. - Mkini