KUALA LUMPUR, May 4 – The number of new Covid-19 cases today dropped by more than half to 55 from 122 yesterday, health authorities announced, after two consecutive days of above 100 infections.
Out of the 55, only 24 were community transmission cases, whereas another 24 were from Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO) areas, and the remaining seven were imported infections.
Today’s 24 community transmission cases were the lowest since May 1 that recorded 37 community transmission infections, meaning cases that exclude infections in EMCO areas and infections acquired from overseas.
Kuala Lumpur recorded the highest number of new cases today at 25, all of which are local cases. This is followed by Selangor with 21 cases, out of which four are imported cases; Negeri Sembilan with six cases, out of which 1 is imported; and Melaka with three cases, out of which two are imported. None of the other states or federal territories recorded any new coronavirus infections today.
“This brings the total cases in Malaysia to 6,353. Therefore, the total number of active Covid-19 infections is 1,764 cases,” said Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah in a statement.
“To date, 28 cases of Covid-19 are being treated in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Of these, 13 cases require ventilator support.”
No deaths were recorded today, maintaining the country’s death toll at 105, which is 1.65 per cent of total cases.
Separately, the DG also called upon businesses, operators and employers to uphold the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) to curb further outbreak.
He also provided another definition to SOP in Malay, which when translated to English is as following:
· S: Conditions set by the authorities. (“S” stands for ‘syarat’).
· O: Those at high risk of contracting the virus – children, babies, old people, people with disabilities, unwell people – must immediately get medical help. (“O” stands for ‘orang yang berisiko tinggi’).
· P: Social distancing of at least 1m at all time. (“P” stands for ‘penjarakan sosial’).
“As long as Malaysians obey the SOP and adopt new norms in daily life, the Covid-19 infection chain will be broken,” Dr Noor Hisham added.
Additionally, he also spoke on Covid-19 contact tracing digital applications, namely MySejahtera and MyTrace.
“MySejahtera enables users to perform self-assessment as well as assist MOH to obtain early information on individual health levels to take prompt and effective action.”
MySejahtera allows users to obtain information on hotspot areas in a radius of 1km from the location of the user or from any address. It can also provide information on Covid-19 health screenings, as well as give online health advice to users.
“In addition, the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) has developed the MyTrace application. This application enables the government to perform contact tracing on individuals who are Covid-19 positive.”
MyTrace complements the MyServices application. MyTrace does not collect any of the user’s geo-location information; instead, it records Bluetooth wave logs when users are near each other.
