Health Ministry corrects racial breakdown figures for Covid-19 deaths

The Health Ministry has provided updated figures on Covid-19 deaths in the country to Bangi MP Ong Kian Ming after botching the numbers provided in an earlier parliamentary reply.

According to the latest figures, there were 471 Covid-19 deaths in 2020. The racial breakdown is as follows:

Total Malaysians: 391 (83.0 percent)

• Malay: 122 (26.0 percent)
• Chinese: 66 (14.0 percent)
• Indian: 18 (4.0 percent)
• Sabah Bumiputera: 172 (37.0 percent)
• Sarawak Bumiputera: 13 (3.0 percent)
• Orang Asli: 0 (0.0 percent)

Non-Malaysians: 80 (17.0 percent)

Grand total: 471 (100.0 percent)

For 2021, there were 26,212 deaths up to Oct 3. The breakdown is as follows:

Total Malaysians: 22,907 (87.4 percent)

• Malay: 13,772 (52.5 percent)
• Chinese: 4,753 (18.1 percent)
• Indian: 2,502 (9.6 percent)
• Sabah Bumiputera: 1,229 (4.7 percent)
• Sarawak Bumiputera: 598 (2.3 percent)
• Orang Asli: 53 (0.2 percent)

Non-Malaysians: 3,305 (12.6 percent)

Grand total: 26,212 (100.0 percent)

Previously, Ong asked the ministry to provide a racial breakdown of Covid-19 deaths among Malaysian citizens, to which the ministry supplied a written response in Parliament.

However, the written reply lumped together “lain-lain” Malaysians together with non-Malaysian citizens, despite the question enquiring specifically about Malaysian deaths in the country.

"Lain-lain" or "others", is the term typically used to refer to Malaysians who are not Malay, Chinese, or Indian.

Compared to the previous reply, the overall number of deaths remains unchanged.

However, the figures for “lain-lain” have been removed and replaced with figures for Sabah Bumiputera, Sarawak Bumiputera, Orang Asli, and non-Malaysians.

The number of deaths among Malays, Chinese, and Indians also saw an increase compared to the earlier reply. - Mkini