PUTRAJAYA OCT.11: – Malaysia has shown many indications of its readiness to enter the endemic phase following the improving situation of COVID-19 infection in recent weeks, especially in terms of average daily cases, number of clusters, vaccination rates and hospital capacity.
Director General of Health, Tan Sri Dr. Noor Hisham Abdullah said, overall the Ministry of Health (MOH) has found a declining trend since the 34th Epidemiology Week (ME) for key indicators such as daily cases, active cases, deaths, ICU cases, and those in need of breathing aids.
Dr. Noor Hisham said, on the 40th ME, starting from 3rd October to 9th October 2021 there were 63,722 COVID-19 cases reported compared to 83,368 cases reported in the 39th ME (a drop of 23.6 per cent). This decline has also occurred consistently over the past six weeks (34th ME).
“A total of 133,806 active cases were reported in the 40th ME (a decrease of 21.0 per cent compared to the 39th ME) and 700 deaths with an average of 100 deaths per day in the 40th ME (a decrease of 50.2 per cent compared to the 39th ME, while 778 cases requiring treatment in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) (a 9.0 per cent decrease over the 39th ME), 331 cases requiring respiratory assistance (a decrease of 11.2 per cent over the 39th ME) and decrease in R – Naught (R t ) value of 0.2 per cent per day,” Dr. Noor Hisham said in a statement here today.
Regarding number of clusters, Dr. Noor Hisham added, there were 79 clusters reported in the 40th ME. Of these there was a decrease of 21 clusters compared to the 39th ME (a decrease of 21.0 per cent). The 43 clusters (54.4 per cent) included work place clusters, 25 community clusters (31.7 per cent), six high -risk group clusters (7.6 per cent), and five religious clusters (6.3 per cent).
On the development of vaccinations, Dr. Noor Hisham said, as of October 10, 2021, 24, 963, 595 individuals have registered for the COVID-19 vaccination. As announced by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob yesterday, 90.0 per cent of the adult population has received a complete COVID-19 vaccine inoculation. Meanwhile, 65.2 percent of the total population has received a complete COVID-19 vaccine inoculation.
Relating to hospital capacity, the Director General of Health said, there are 16,199 regular ward beds and 1,514 ICU ward beds allocated by MOH to treat COVID-19 patients.
From the total he said, 8,164 beds were used during the 40th ME compared to the previous week (a decrease of five per cent) while a total of 16,912 beds were used at the COVID-19 Low Risk Quarantine and Treatment Center (PKRC). This is a decrease of three per cent over the previous week.
He added, for ICU beds, the utilization was 831 beds (a decrease of 7 per cent compared to the 39th ME); and 1,267 public breathing aids were used (a decrease of three per cent from the previous week).
“In line with this positive development, the community is advised not to be complacent and quickly satisfied with the current status of COVID-19 infection in the country. We should take a lesson from the previous sharp rise in COVID-19 cases to the point of crippling various economic and social sectors.
“In this regard, through the safely reopening initiative, all parties need to play an important role in jointly deciding the COVID-19 chain in Malaysia. MOH would like to advise all Malaysians to always practice compliance (SOP) and improve TRIIS self-assessment (test, report, isolate, inform and seek) especially when the state borders reopen today,” Dr. Noor Hisham reiterated.-Malaysia World News
