Covid 19 Weekly Round Up Active Cases Remain Below 15 000

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A positive indication that the transmission of the deadly coronavirus is well under control is the daily new case figures that have remained below 1,500 over the last five days, with the lowest being 1,116 infections on Monday (March 22).
So far this year, the lowest number of new cases recorded on a single day was 1,063 on March 16.
Over the 24-hour period up to noon yesterday, 1,360 new Covid-19 cases were reported nationwide.
The breakdown of daily new cases reported over the last six days is as follows: 1,671 (March 20); 1,327 (March 21); 1,116 (March 22); 1,384 (March 23); 1,268 (March 24); and 1,360 (yesterday).
The cumulative total of Covid-19 cases in the country now stood at 338,168 and active cases 14,504.
With the 338,168 cases, Malaysia remained at the 45th spot in the list of 216 countries affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Just ahead of Malaysia is Panama (352,082 cases), Slovakia (354,182) and Saudi Arabia (386,782).
Yesterday, 1,491 patients were discharged from hospitals, bringing the total number of recoveries to 322,416 (95.3 percent of total Covid-19 cases).
The breakdown of recoveries recorded over the last six days is as follows: 1,585 (March 20); 1,247 (March 21 ); 1,495 (March 22); 1,058 (March 23); 1,083 (March 24); and 1,491 (yesterday).

Other developments

This week, as of March 25, six districts in the peninsula returned to green zone status, compared with 11 districts last week. The six are Yan (Kedah), Hulu Perak and Kampar (Perak), Jempol (Negeri Sembilan), Gua Musang (Kelantan) and Cameron Highlands (Pahang).
As for the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme, the following number of people have been administered the first and second (within brackets) doses of the vaccine in the various states as of March 24: Perlis 9,530 (1,561); Kedah 26,310 (4,469); Penang 31,189 (2,756); Perak 49,528 (7,197); Selangor 60,521 (4,224); Kuala Lumpur 37,617 (7,769); Putrajaya 4,621 (1,469); Negeri Sembilan 21,017 (2,942); Melaka 11,094 (2,545); Kelantan 19,755 (7,922); Terengganu 20,055 (4,601); Pahang 33,320 (7,162); Johor 32,126 (5,666); Sabah 41,415 (1,796); Labuan 2,345 (1,557); and Sarawak 36,244 (10,643).


A total of 510,976 people have received the vaccine so far (first dose 436,687 and second dose 274,289).
Meanwhile, health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah wrote on his personal Facebook account yesterday that the Covid-19 infectivity rate or R0/Rt value stood at 1.0 nationwide as of yesterday. Labuan registered the highest R0 value at 1.34 while Perak’s was the lowest at 0.81.
Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Johor, Penang and Kelantan are under a Conditional Movement Control Order from March 19 to 31. Sarawak is under CMCO from March 16 to 29.
Kedah, Perak, Pahang, Terengganu, Negeri Sembilan, Perlis, Putrajaya, Labuan, Sabah and Melaka have been placed under a Recovery Movement Control Order from March 19 to 31.
Inter-district travel is allowed in all the states (except Sabah and Sarawak) but interstate travel is still prohibited.
Malaysia is under emergency rule starting Jan 12 up to August this year.

Workplace. community clusters

As of yesterday, Malaysia has recorded a total of 1,322 clusters, out of which 928 have ended. Currently, 394 clusters are still active with 55 of them having reported new cases yesterday.
Among the clusters that recorded the highest number of new cases yesterday were the Jalan Faizal cluster (50 cases), Chupak cluster (47) and Tanjung Genting cluster (44).
The Jalan Faizal cluster is a workplace cluster involving the workers of a factory at Jalan Faizal, Pekan Nanas in Pontian, Johor. It was first reported on Jan 21 and as of yesterday, it has recorded a total of 631 Covid-19 cases.
The Chupak community cluster involves Serian and Samarahan districts in Sarawak with the index case having tested positive for Covid-19 on March 10. As of yesterday, this cluster had recorded 104 positive cases.
The Tanjung Genting community cluster involves Meradong district in Sarawak and its index case was tested positive on March 13. As of yesterday, it recorded a total of 74 cases.

Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham
Eight new clusters were reported yesterday, seven of which were linked to the workplace and one to the community (in Sabab).
Meanwhile, Noor Hisham, in a media statement yesterday, drew attention to the emergence of new clusters involving educational institutions.
He said during the period from Jan 1 to March 25 this year, 15 clusters were reported involving institutions of higher learning, 11 involving secondary schools and 10 involving primary schools and preschools.
Another five clusters involving tahfiz centres and madrasah were also reported during the same period.
These clusters include three new ones reported yesterday, namely Paloh Rambai cluster (Kota Bharu and Bachok, Kelantan), Merinding cluster (Labuan) and Persiaran Maktab cluster (Klang, Hulu Langat and Gombak, Selangor).

Covid-19 case details nationwide

Four states, namely Selangor, Sarawak, Johor and Penang, reported three-digit new cases yesterday,
Selangor continued to head the list with 356 out of the 1,360 new cases reported nationwide yesterday. Three clusters – Bandar Sri, Persiaran Maktab and Putra Satu – contributed to 41 cases; 169 cases came from the screening of close contacts; and 146 cases from other Covid-19 screenings.
Sarawak accounted for 308 cases yesterday (124 from existing clusters, 120 from the screening of close contacts and 64 from other Covid-19 screenings); Johor 129 (60 from existing clusters, 36 from the screening of close contacts and 33 from other screenings); Penang 113 (six from existing clusters, 50 from the screening of close contacts and 57 from other screenings).
The following eight states recorded two-digit new cases yesterday:
Kuala Lumpur 98; Perak 71; Sabah 70; Kelantan 63; Negeri Sembilan 49; Kedah 44; Melaka 32; and Pahang 10.
The following recorded single-digit new cases: Putrajaya (eight), Terengganu (six), Labuan (three) and Perlis (0).
Yesterday, two fatalities due to Covid-19 were reported, bringing Malaysia's death tally to 1,248 (0.37 percent of total cases).
Currently, 157 Covid-19 patients are in the intensive care unit with 72 requiring respiratory aid.

Global Covid-19 statistics

The total number of Covid19 cases worldwide, according to Worldometer, at the time of writing this article stood at 126,057,757 (121,938,222 cases at the same time last Friday) and deaths 2,767,283 (2,694,904 last Friday). The total number of recoveries stood at 101,719,512.


Some 216 countries are affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and those in the top 10 of the list are the United States, India, Brazil, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy, Turkey and Germany. The breakdown is as follows: United States 30,774,033 cases ( 559,744 deaths); Brazil 12,324,765 (303,726); India 11,846,082 (160,983); Russia 4,492,692 (96,612); France 4,424,087 (93,378), United Kingdom 4,319,128 (126,445); Italy 3,464,543 (106,799); Spain 3,247,738 (74,420); Turkey 3,120,013 (30,619); and Germany 2,732,130 (76,116).
China, where the outbreak was first reported at end-December 2019, is now on the 89th spot in the list of countries affected by Covid-19 with 90,147 cases while its death toll remained at 4,636.
Besides Malaysia, the three other Southeast Asian nations that have joined the list of 83 countries with more than 100,000 cases are Indonesia (20th spot) with 1,482,559 cases and 40,081 deaths, the Philippines (30th spot) with 693,048 cases and 13,095 deaths, and Myanmar (78th spot) with 142,315 cases and 3,204 deaths.
Singapore (100th spot) has reported 60,253 cases and 30 deaths; Thailand 28,443 cases and a death toll of 92; Vietnam 2,579 cases and 35 deaths; and Cambodia 1,872 cases and five deaths.
Brunei’s tally stands at 206 cases and three deaths, while Laos’ cases remained at 49 with zero fatality.

Covid-19 background

According to the World Health Organisation’s website, its China country office was informed of cases of pneumonia that were detected in Wuhan on Dec 31, 2019. On Jan 7, the Chinese authorities confirmed that the 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, 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, WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak as a global emergency. By then, it had spread to 18 countries and caused 170 deaths. On March 11, Covid-19 was declared a pandemic by WHO.
WHO has described the Covid-19 outbreak as much more dangerous than the A H1N1 Influenza, also known as Swine Flu.
The Swine Flu, which occurred between January 2009 and August 2010, infected more than 1.6 million people and caused 18,449 fatalities.
The International Monetary Fund has warned that the global economic recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic will be worse than the Great Depression of the 1930s. - Bernama

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