PETALING JAYA: Malaysia reported 3,573 new cases of Covid-19 on the last day of 2021 to bring the cumulative total since the beginning of the pandemic to 2,758,086.

       At a global scale, the SARS-CoV-2 virus has infected more than 286 million people from 222 countries and territories, and caused over 5.4 million deaths, though some 253 million patients have recovered.

       In a recent update, World Health Organisation (WHO) director-general Tedros A. Ghebreyesus warned the Omicron and Delta coronavirus variants could produce a “tsunami” of cases that will put “immense pressure” on healthcare systems.

       “I’m highly concerned that Omicron, being more transmissible (and) circulating at the same time as Delta, is leading to a tsunami of cases,” he said at a news conference on Wednesday that was reported by Bernama.

       Following the WHO alert, several nations announced tighter measures to curb the spread of Covid-19.

       Saudi Arabia yesterday announced the re-imposition of face masks and maintaining physical distancing measures for umrah pilgrims at the Masjidil Haram and Nabawi Mosque.

       Brunei also removed all countries, including Malaysia, under the Travel Green List starting today, due to the Omicron threat.

       Back home, umrah returnees are now required to wear digital trackers.

       Prior to this, travellers arriving from 18 high-risk Covid-19 countries were also required to wear digital tracking devices throughout their home surveillance and quarantine periods.

       The high-risk nations are Australia, the United States, United Kingdom, Norway, France, Denmark, Canada, Nigeria, India, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Malawi.

       The Health Ministry (MOH) has detected four imported clusters involving umrah pilgrims, namely two in Johor (Dec 27–Serom 5 Hilir Tangkak Saudi cluster and Dec 29–Jalan Permatang Enam Saudi cluster) and two more in Pahang (Dec 28 – Jengka 25 Saudi cluster and Dec 28–Keratong 5 Saudi cluster).

       The MOH has also detected 442 positive cases among flood victims and 15 positive cases at temporary evacuation centres.

       With the cumulative figure of nearly 2.8 million cases, Malaysia is now ranked 21st in the list of 222 nations/territories struck by the pandemic, with countries like the Philippines (2,841,260) and the Netherlands (3,116,039) ahead of Malaysia.

       Of 3,997 new cases recorded on Thursday, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said only 64 (1.6%) cases were in categories 3, 4 and 5 (the most severe), while 3,933 (98.4%) were in categories 1 (asymptomatic) and 2 (mild symptoms).

       According to Worldometer, the total number of Covid-19 cases worldwide stood at 286,858,755 from 278,681,417 previously.

       Recovered cases stood at 253,158,707 from 249,458,566 previously.

       Besides Malaysia, the other South-East Asian nations that have joined the list of 112 countries with more than 100,000 Covid-19 cases are Indonesia in 14th spot with 4,262,540 cases (144,088 deaths); the Philippines 20th - 2,841,260 cases (51,373 deaths); Thailand 24th - 2,223,435 cases (21,698 deaths); Vietnam 31st - 1,714,742 cases (32,168 deaths); Myanmar 65th - 530,645 cases (19,265 deaths); Singapore 88th - 279,061 cases (827 deaths); Cambodia 110th - 120,487 cases (3,012 deaths); Laos 112th - 110,054 cases (360 deaths); and Brunei 167th - 15,470 cases (98 deaths).

       Malaysia’s Covid-19 cases breached the one million mark on July 25, with 1,013,438 cases.