Covid-19 cases, deaths under control, says health ministry

 

Health minister Dzulkefly Ahmad says most Covid-19 cases exhibit mild symptoms and do not require hospitalisation.

PETALING JAYA: Health minister Dzulkefly Ahmad today assured that the Covid-19 situation in Malaysia remains under control, alongside its mortality rate.

In his update for the week ending Dec 23, Dzulkefly said the majority of Covid-19 cases in Malaysia exhibit mild symptoms and do not require hospitalisation.

“The admission rate of Covid-19 patients to hospitals is 0.5%, and the mortality rate is 0.08%. This indicates that both parameters remain at a low level,” he said.

According to the KKMNOW portal, 3,499 new Covid-19 cases were recorded in the country the week before, bringing the cumulative total of active cases to 333,285 as of Dec 23.

A total of 31,543 Covid-19 patients are currently under home surveillance orders, while 1,698 are receiving treatment at hospitals nationwide.

Dzulkefly also said no new variants have been detected in Malaysia, with the dominant variant still Omicron alongside its sub-variants XBB.1.16, XBB.1.5, EG.5, and JN.1.

“The circulating sub-variants of the Omicron variant are known not to cause more severe cases,” he said.

It was previously reported that the rapidly spreading JN.1 variant, classified by the World Health Organization as a variant of interest, had been detected in Malaysia.

Over 40 countries have already reported JN.1 cases, including the UK, Denmark, Spain and Iceland. The variant was first detected in the US in September. - FMT