KUALA LUMPUR: With recoveries exceeding the new cases reported daily, active Covid-19 cases are inching downwards as the nation prepares to enter the transition to endemicity phase on April 1.
According to the Health Ministry’s (MOH) CovidNow statistics, as of 11.59 pm yesterday (March 24) there were 247,603 active cases, compared with 296,799 on March 17.
New daily cases reported during the week under review (March 19-24) continued to fall under 30,000. Yesterday, new cases totalled 24,316 nationwide, with Selangor accounting for the highest number (11,692).
Yesterday was the second day Selangor’s new case figure swelled to five digits - on March 23, it registered 10,240 cases.
Malaysia’s cumulative Covid-19 cases now stand at 4,079,242. The nation’s total cases breached the four million mark on March 21 (4,010,952 cases). The same day, 17,828 new infections were recorded, the lowest during the week under review.
Following is the number of new daily cases recorded nationwide during the week under review:
March 19 (22,341), March 20 (19,105), March 21 (17,828), March 22 (21,483), March 23 (22,491) and March 24 (24,316).
The number of people who recovered from Covid-19 is as follows:
March 19 (33,347), March 20 (28,250), March 21 (28,003), March 22 (32,561), March 23 (26,234) and March 24 (25,512).
During the week under review, 17 new clusters were recorded. Eight of them were workplace clusters (47.05 percent); there were also another eight high-risk group clusters (47.05 percent) and one education cluster (5.90 percent).
With its cumulative 4,079,242 cases, Malaysia now stood at the 23rd spot among the 225 countries and territories affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Ahead of Malaysia is Australia (4,122,142) and Ukraine (4,949,283).
According to the latest data provided by Worldometer, South Korea recorded the highest number of new cases yesterday at 395,589 (470 deaths), followed by Germany at 305,592 cases (261 deaths) and France 148,635 cases (124 deaths).
MOH’s COVIDNOW data as of 11.59 pm yesterday showed 247,603 active cases nationwide, out of which 239,934 cases (96.9 percent) were under home quarantine.
Another 1,329 cases (0.5 percent) were placed at Covid-19 Quarantine and Treatment Centres while 6,019 cases (2.4 percent) were hospitalised. As for intensive care unit (ICU) admissions, 127 cases (0.1 percent) did not require breathing aid while 194 cases (0.1 percent) needed respiratory assistance.
Following are states that recorded four- and five-digit new case numbers this week:
March 19 - Johor (1,286), Kedah (1,353), Negri Sembilan (1,405), Pahang (1,009), Perak (1,403), Penang (1,928), Sarawak (1,177), Selangor (7,366) and Kuala Lumpur (3,078).
March 20 - Johor (1,441), Kedah (1,113), Pahang (1,100), Perak (1,300), Penang (1,772), Selangor (6,761) and Kuala Lumpur (1,659).
March 21- Johor (1,088), Kedah (1,402), Perak (1,015), Penang (1,310), Selangor (6,941) and Kuala Lumpur (1,433).
March 22 - Kedah (1,219), Negri Sembilan (1,061), Perak (1,170), Penang (1,295), Sarawak (1,547), Selangor (7,452) and Kuala Lumpur (3,433).
March 23 - Johor (1,031), Kedah (1,240), Negeri Sembilan (1,116), Perak (1,213), Penang (1,299), Sarawak (1,252), Selangor (10,240), and Kuala Lumpur (1,991).
March 24 - Kedah (1,252), Perak (1,324), Penang (1,577), Sarawak (1,400), Selangor (11,692) and Kuala Lumpur (2,425).
In his Press release on Friday (March 25), Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said out of the 24,316 new cases recorded nationwide yesterday, 13,299 (54.69 percent) comprised category 1 cases; 10,865 (44.68 percent) category 2 cases; 75 (0.31 percent) category 3 cases; 32 (0.13 percent) category 4 cases; and 45 (0.19 percent) category 5 cases.
MOH lists category 5 patients as critical cases requiring ventilators. Category 4 patients, meanwhile, require oxygen assistance while category 3 is for those with lung inflammation. Patients who are asymptomatic and experience mild symptoms are placed in categories 1 and 2 respectively.
Over the week under review, 25,512 patients recovered from Covid-19, bringing the total number of recovered cases to 3,796,975 (93.1 percent).
The Covid-19 infectivity rate or R0/Rt value remained below the 1.00 level nationwide over the week. The daily breakdown is as follows:
March 19 (0.92), March 20 (0.93), March 21 (0.92), March 22 (0.91), March 23 (0.90) and March 24 (0.91).
Yesterday, Selangor recorded the highest R0/Rt value (1.06), followed by Perak (0.99) and Sarawak (0.97).
COVID-19 SCENARIO IN MALAYSIA
Active cases (infectious)
March 19 (283,275), March 20 (274,059), March 21 (263,821), March 22 (252,671), March 23 (248,863) and March 24 (247,603).
The state-by-state breakdown in new cases (+ imported cases) reported yesterday is as follows:
Five-digit new cases - Selangor 11,639 (+53);
Four-digit new cases - Kedah 1,231 (+21), Perak 1,309 (+15), Penang 1,573 (+4), Sarawak 1,394 (+6) and Kuala Lumpur 2,385 (+40);
Three-digit new cases - Johor 949 (+37), Kelantan 407 (+29), Melaka 565 (+29), Negeri Sembilan 883 (+ 5), Pahang 590 (+ 41), Sabah 435 (+1) and Terengganu 421 (+9); and
Two-digit new cases - Perlis 90 (+ 0), Labuan 71 (+ 0 ) and Putrajaya 77 (+7).
The number of new cases, imported cases and local transmissions recorded nationwide over the week is as follows:
March 19 - New cases 22,341 (imported 524); local transmissions 21,817 (20,910 Malaysians and 907 non-citizens);
March 20 - new cases 19,105 (imported 386); local transmissions 18,719 (18,046 Malaysians and 673 non-citizens);
March 21 - new cases 17,828 (imported 407); local transmissions 17,421 (16,709 Malaysians and 712 non-citizens);
March 22 - new cases 21,483 (imported 394); local transmissions 21,089 (20,300 Malaysians and 789 non-citizens;
March 23 - new cases 22,491 (imported 382); local transmissions 22,109 (21,243 Malaysians and 866 non-citizens; and
March 24 - new cases 24,316 (imported 297); local transmissions 24,019 (23,185 Malaysians and 834 non-citizens).
Meanwhile, as of yesterday, a total of 251 Covid-19 clusters were still active nationwide. So far, a total of 6,922 clusters have emerged in Malaysia since the start of the pandemic and 6,671 of them have ended.
Following are the new clusters detected during the week under review:
March 19 - six (workplace four and high-risk group one);
March 20 - one (high-risk group);
March 21 - two (high-risk group 2);
March 22 - four (workplace three and education one);
March 23 - 0; and
March 24 - four (workplace one and high-risk group three).
OTHER DEVELOPMENTS IN THE NATION
The number of new cases placed in categories 1 to 5 this week is as follows:
Out of the 22,341 new cases reported on March 19:
Category 1: 10,181 (45.57 percent);
Category 2: 12,007 (53.75 percent);
Category 3: 58 (0.26 percent);
Category 4: 45 (0.20 percent); and
Category 5: 50 (0.22 percent).
Out of the 19,105 new cases reported on March 20:
Category 1: 8,267 (43.27 percent);
Category 2: 10,645 (55.72 percent);
Category 3: 81 (0.42 percent);
Category 4: 44 (0.23 percent); and
Category 5: 68 (0.36 percent).
Out of the 17,828 new cases reported on March 21:
Category 1: 9,121 (51.16 percent);
Category 2: 8,551 (47.96 percent);
Category 3: 55 (0.31percent);
Category 4: 48 (0.27 percent); and
Category 5: 53 (0.30 percent).
Out of the 21,483 new cases reported on March 22:
Category 1: 10,455 48.67 percent);
Category 2: 10,862 (50.56 percent);
Category 3: 57 (0.27 percent);
Category 4: 46 (0.21 percent); and
Category 5: 63 cases (0.29 percent).
Out of the 22,491 new cases reported on March 23:
Category 1: 10,601 (47.14 percent);
Category 2: 11,725 (52.13 percent);
Category 3: 71 (0.31 percent);
Category 4: 44 (0.20 percent); and
Category 5: 50 (0.22 percent).
Out of the 24,316 new cases reported on March 24:
Category 1: 13,299 (54.69 percent);
Category 2: 10,865 (44.68 percent);
Category 3: 75 (0.31 percent);
Category 4: 32 (0.13 percent); and
Category 5: 45 (0.19 percent).
The breakdown in fatalities reported this week is as follows: March 19 - 85 (brought in dead or BID 23), March 20- 71 (BID 26), March 21 - 63 (BID 21), March 22 - 73 (BID 25), March 23 - 65 (BID 15) and March 24 - 64 (BID 18).
(BID cases involve patients who died outside the hospital and tested positive for Covid-19 after their bodies were brought to the hospital's forensics department.)
As of yesterday, Malaysia’s Covid-19 death toll stood at 34,664.
GLOBAL COVID-19 STATISTICS
The total number of Covid-19 cases reported worldwide, according to Worldometer statistics, now stood at 477,748,962 (last Friday, 467,675,216), while the death tally stood at 6,133,017 (last Friday, 6,092,924). A total of 412,745,538 patients have recovered so far (last Friday, 399,043,601 ).
A total of 225 countries are hit by the Covid-19 pandemic and the top 10 countries with the highest number of cases are the United States, India, Brazil, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Russia, Turkey, Italy and Spain.
Following is the breakdown in Covid-19 cases in the top 10 countries (+ new daily cases reported yesterday):
United States 81,563,030 (+31,650);
India 43,016,149 (+1,462);
Brazil 29,767,681 (+37,690);
France 24,636,311 (+148,635);
United Kingdom 20,613,817 (+51,762);
Germany 19,741,719 (+305,592);
Russia 17,690,008 (+25,387);
Turkey 14,760,331 (+16,894);
Italy 14,153,098 (+81,811);
Spain 11,378,784 (+no information).
China, where Covid-19 was first detected at end-December 2019, is currently at the 118th spot in the list of countries affected by Covid-19 with a total of 139,285 cases (+2,054 new cases yesterday).
Besides Malaysia, other Southeast Asian countries that have joined the list of 125 countries with over 100,000 cases are Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Brunei.
Their cumulative cases (+new daily cases) are as follows:
Vietnam (13th spot) - 8,599,751 (+120,000);
Indonesia (18th spot) - 5,986,830 (+5,808);
Malaysia (23rd spot) - 4,079,242 (+24,316);
Philippines (28th spot) - 3,675,821 (+442);
Thailand (32nd spot) - 3,450,980 (+27,024);
Singapore (57th spot) - 1,053,139 (+8,478);
Myanmar (77th spot) - 610,176 (+261);
Laos (113th spot) - 161,866 (+2,819);
Cambodia (120th spot) - 135,285 (+63); and
Brunei (123rd spot) - 129,081 (+775).
COVID-19 BACKGROUND
The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) China country office was informed of cases of pneumonia that were detected in Wuhan on Dec 31, 2019. On Jan 7, 2020, the Chinese authorities confirmed that the newly detected novel coronavirus can be transmitted from human to human.
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that cause illnesses ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-COV).
A study of the virus’ genetic sequence suggested similarities to that seen in snakes and bats. China health officials identified the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan as the source of the transmission of the coronavirus.
On Feb 11, 2020, WHO announced the official name of the virus, COVID-19, which is an acronym for coronavirus 2019 - CO stands for corona, VI for virus and D for disease.
On Jan 30, 2020, WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak as a global emergency and on March 11 the same year, Covid-19 was declared a pandemic.
WHO has described the Covid-19 outbreak as much more dangerous than the A H1N1 Influenza, also known as Swine Flu.
Swine Flu, which occurred between January 2009 and August 2010, infected more than 1.6 million people and caused 18,449 fatalities. It was first detected in Mexico and later in the United States in March 2009.
Covid-19 was detected in Malaysia on Jan 25, 2020, when three Chinese citizens, who had entered Malaysia through Johore from Singapore on Jan 23, tested positive for the disease.
New variants of the Covid-19 coronavirus have since emerged in the United Kingdom (identified as B117) in September 2020, South Africa (501Y.V2) in October 2020 and India (B.1.617), also in October 2020.
Malaysia's total COVID-19 cases breached the one million mark on July 25, 2021.
WHO on Nov 26 designated a new variant of COVID-19, named Omicron, a variant of concern. It was first detected in Gauteng Province, South Africa.
On Jan 2, 2022, Israel confirmed its first case of an individual infected with 'Flurona', a term that was coined to describe the condition of being infected with COVID-19 and the seasonal flu simultaneously. - Bernama