COVID-19 Weekly Round-up: Pandemic Worsens, Active Cases Exceed 41,000

By Melati Mohd Ariff

This is a round-up of COVID-19 related matters in Malaysia and globally from Jan 16 up to noon Jan 22, 2021. In Malaysia, case numbers have exceeded 172,000 and globally, the virus has infected more than 98 million people and caused about two million deaths. More than 216 countries and territories are affected by the pandemic.

KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama) – The Ministry of Health’s projections of a sharp escalation in COVID-19 cases during the ongoing third wave are not exactly off track as Malaysia recorded new infections exceeding 4,000 on two occasions over the week.

New cases recorded on Saturday (Jan 16) numbered 4,029 while on Wednesday (Jan 20), there were 4,008 new infections.

Saturday’s number was the highest ever recorded in a single day in Malaysia since the first COVID-19 case was announced on Jan 25 last year.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said yesterday the end of the battle against COVID-19 is still nowhere in sight.

Kuala Lumpur City Hall workers disinfecting Masjid Jamek Sultan Abdul Samad. --fotoBERNAMA (2021) ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

MOH is closely observing the developments of the pandemic and there is a possibility that it may recommend to the government to tighten the implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO 2.) that was enforced recently.

The tighter measures are necessary to curb spikes in daily new cases, more so in view of the festivals that are scheduled to be celebrated over the next few months.

According to MOH projections, daily COVID-19 cases between Jan 4 and May 31 this year would hit 3,000 (in the second week of February) and 8,000 (fourth week of May).

The projections were based on the R-naught (R0) value of 1.1. R0 refers to the infectivity of a virus at the start of an outbreak in a community.

With the proclamation of emergency, beginning Jan 12 up to Aug 1, 2021, and the enforcement of MCO nationwide, except Sarawak, the government hopes to flatten the nation’s COVID-19 infection curve.

Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah. --fotoBERNAMA (2021) ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Dr Noor Hisham was quoted as saying on Jan 14 that the efforts undertaken to flatten the curve will show results by May or June when new cases will hover around 500 to 1,000 a day.

Over the 24-hour period up to noon yesterday, 3,170 new cases (including eight imported cases) were reported, pushing Malaysia’s total COVID-19 cases to 172,549 and active cases to a hefty 41,755.

Malaysia now stood at the 60th spot in the list of 216 countries affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, having overtaken Armenia (165,528 cases) and Kuwait (159,834 cases). Immediately ahead of Malaysia is Lithuania with 173,819 cases.

China, where the first case involving the deadly coronavirus was reported in December 2019, now stood at the 83rd spot with 88,804 cases, while Malaysia’s neighbour Singapore is at the 90th spot with 59,235 cases.

For the record, the number of new cases reported over the week under review is as follows: 4,029 (Saturday, Jan 16), 3,339 (Sunday), 3,306 (Monday), 3,631 (Tuesday), 4,008 (Wednesday) and 3,170 (yesterday).

CRITICAL TWO WEEKS

This eatery in Terengganu has been closed temporarily due to the MCO. --fotoBERNAMA (2021) ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

The two-week-long MCO 2.0 for Penang, Selangor, Melaka, Johor, Kelantan, Sabah and federal territories of Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Labuan that was scheduled to end on Jan 26 has now been extended to Feb 4.

An MCO was also declared in Perlis, Kedah, Perak, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang and Terengganu, stretching from Jan 22 to Feb 4.

A Conditional MCO has been implemented in Sarawak, except Sibu which is under MCO, starting from Jan 16 to Jan 29.

The MCO 2.0 period is highly crucial in curbing the spread of COVID-19 and preventing the nation from plunging into a bigger crisis.

On Tuesday, Dr Noor Hisham said the number of new infections reported will remain high for several more days, averaging at 3,000 a day.

He explained that the rather high number of daily cases reported of late was due to exposure to the coronavirus over the 14-day period prior to Jan 13.

After Jan 26, that is, two weeks after the MCO was enforced in some states, there may be a small reduction in daily new case figures.   

The effects of the measures taken to break the chain of infections will be more visible after four weeks, while efforts to flatten the curve will yield results in May or June.

In the meantime, MOH is increasing its facilities to cope with the rising number of COVID-19 patients, among them being the integrated hospital at the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang (MAEPS) which will operate 24 hours.

Fourteen COVID-19 hospitals, with a total of 539 beds, have been opened in Johor, Terengganu, Kelantan, Pahang, Selangor, Kedah, Sabah and Sarawak to cater to category 3, 4 and 5 patients.

To reduce congestion at the various COVID-19 quarantine and treatment centres, category 1 and 2 patients are allowed to undergo quarantine at home.

NEW AND EXISTING CLUSTERS

Negeri Sembilan Fire and Rescue Department personnel carrying out sanitisation work at the court complex in Seremban. --fotoBERNAMA (2021) ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

As of yesterday, Malaysia has recorded 701 clusters, including the 16 new ones reported yesterday. So far a total of 374 clusters have ended while 327 are still active and being monitored by MOH.

Eighty-four of the active clusters reported new cases yesterday, with the highest number of infections reported by the Pasai (88 cases), Bina Utama (42 cases) and Jalan Sempadan (32 cases) clusters.

The Pasai cluster was announced on Jan 9 with 38 cases and it involves the districts of Sibu and Mukah in Sarawak. The index case was a woman who reportedly returned from Johor after attending her father’s funeral.

Throughout the week under review (Jan 16-21), workplace clusters involving construction sites, factories and companies were significant contributors to new case numbers. Clusters involving detention centres and those that emerged following family gatherings and funerals also contributed to new cases.  

For the record, the number of new clusters reported over the week is as follows: six (Saturday), 10 (Sunday), nine (Monday), nine (Tuesday), 16 (Wednesday) and 16 (Thursday).

Among the workplace clusters reported on Wednesday is the Jalan Abdul Aziz cluster, which reported 56 positive cases after targeted screening was carried out at a construction site at Jalan Dato Abdul Aziz, Section 19, Petaling Jaya, Selangor.  

Another cluster, Kampung Balibata, emerged following a funeral that took place in Kampung Balibata in Beaufort, Sabah. It reported 35 positive cases.

On Tuesday, the Jalan Sungai Jelok Prison cluster was announced after targeted screening was conducted at the Kajang Women’s Prison at Jalan Sungai Jelok, Kajang.

The Batu Enam cluster, which was announced on Wednesday, involves Kampung Orang Asli Batu Enam in Batang Padang, Perak, and it reported 12 cases.

COVID-19 CASE DETAILS

Kg Rapat Police Station head Inspector Zulhamali Zakaria (centre) at the market in Gunung Rapat in Ipoh to check public compliance with SOPs. --fotoBERNAMA (2021) ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Out of the 3,170 new cases reported nationwide yesterday, Kuala Lumpur accounted for the highest number at 576, including 20 cases from the Terolak and KL2 Wholesale Market clusters.

Selangor recorded 545 cases yesterday as well as two new clusters, namely Jalan Kelapa and Jalan Canang Emas; and Johor 423 cases and three new clusters – Jalan Sempadan, Tampoi Tujuh and Seri Bayu.

Sabah had 401 new cases and two clusters, Ladang Sebrang and Silimpopon; Perak 245 cases and three new clusters, Taman Sejahtera, Jalan Slim and Kota Muhibbah; Penang recorded 171 cases and one new cluster Mandin Jaya; and Kedah reported 156 cases and two new clusters Orion and Gunung Raya.

Kelantan registered 135 new cases; Sarawak 132; Melaka 106; Negeri Sembilan 102; Terengganu 57 and a new cluster Kampung Tanah Merah; Pahang 48; Putrajaya 33; Labuan 32; and Perlis eight. 

Meanwhile, Malaysia’s total number of COVID-19 patients who have recovered stood at 130,152 (75.4 percent of total cases). Another 12 deaths were reported yesterday, bringing the nation’s death toll to 642 (0.4 percent of total cases). A total of 260 patients are in the intensive care unit with 103 requiring respiratory aid.

GLOBAL COVID-19 STATISTICS

Current worldwide statistics on COVID-19 and COVID-19 case summary in Malaysia. www.coronatracker.com

The total number of COVID-19 cases worldwide at the time of writing this article stood at 98,088,731 (93,530,100 cases at the same time last Friday) and deaths at 2,100,388 (2,002,347 last Friday). The total number of recoveries stood at 70,466,927.

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, Italy, Spain, Turkey and Germany. The breakdown is as follows:

United States 25,196,086 cases (420,285 deaths), India 10,626,200 (153,067), Brazil 8,699,814  (214,228), Russia 3,655,839 (67,832), United Kingdom 3,543,646 (94,580), France 2,965,117 (71,652),  Italy 3,414,166 (83,681), Spain 2,412,318 (54,637), Turkey 2,406,216 (24,487) and Germany 2,108,895 (51,151).

China, where the outbreak was first reported at end-December 2019, is now on the 83rd spot with 88,804 cases while its death toll stood at 4,635. 

Besides Malaysia, the three other Southeast Asian nations that have joined the list of 79 countries with more than 100,000 cases are Indonesia (19th spot) with 951,651 cases and 27,203 deaths, the Philippines (32nd spot) with 507,717 cases and 10,116 deaths, and Myanmar (71st spot) with 136,166 cases.

Singapore has reported 59,235 cases and 29 deaths; Thailand 12,795 cases and a death toll of 71; Vietnam 1,546 cases and 35 deaths; and Cambodia 456 cases and zero death.

There are no changes to Brunei’s tally of 141 cases and two deaths, and Laos’ 41 cases and 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.

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.

Translated by Rema Nambiar

 BERNAMA