PETALING JAYA: The Health Ministry has announced that there have been 115 deaths due to Covid-19 reported on March 2, out of which 62 cases occurred within three days.

       The ministry said the remaining 53 cases occurred prior to the 72-hour mark.

       "This figure is the highest reported during the Omicron wave and the highest since Oct 7, 2021, when there were 132 deaths.

       "The last time a three-digit death toll was reported was on Oct 12 last year with 103 deaths due to Covid-19," the ministry said in a statement on Thursday (March 3).

       The ministry said there have been improvements on reporting of the daily death toll as of March 1.

       "The process of reporting deaths due to Covid-19 has been improved and will be announced according to the figures received from the field on a daily basis.

       "This is because, previously, death reports received were only announced after the case registration process at the state level was completed.

       "This sometimes took a while, causing a ‘backlog’ of Covid-19 death cases.

       "To ensure the timeliness of death cases being reported, cases now must be reported within 72 hours of the death as stipulated by the Health Ministry," the statement said.

       The Health Ministry said that the number of deaths announced for March 2, is not the number of deaths that occur in one day.

       "As mentioned, a death report is made within 72 hours and for cases that require further investigation such as post-mortem studies or laboratory tests, it can take up to four to six weeks to be reported.

       "Of the 115 deaths announced for March 2, 62 (54%) were reported to have occurred within 72 hours while the rest (53 cases) occurred more than 72 hours ago," the statement added.

       The Health Ministry said that moving forward in this Omicron wave, a holistic approach must be taken especially in looking at mortality data.

       "Mortality does not only refer to the daily death rate, but more importantly looking at the Case Fatality Rate (CFR).

       "This is because when we head towards an endemic point of view, the CFR is an accurate indicator of mortality when providing a clearer picture of the current epidemic situation," the statement said.