KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 10 — Average daily Covid-19 cases in the Klang Valley almost doubled in the past four weeks, despite movement restrictions in Malaysia’s economic centre since October 14.
Combined Covid-19 cases in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, and Putrajaya were about 129 on average a day from the week of October 17 to 23, rising by 1.7 times to a daily average of about 215 cases in the past four days.
The 215 daily average Covid-19 cases in the Klang Valley were almost six times more than the daily average infections reported five weeks ago in the first week of October at about 38 cases.
CodeBlue conducted an analysis on the average daily Covid-19 cases for every seven days nationwide, Sabah, and Klang Valley, from October 3 to November 6, and the past four days from November 7 to 10, including imported cases.
Although the daily average of cases in Malaysia and Sabah dropped in the sixth week after consecutive weeks of increases since October 3, the Klang Valley registered a continuously rising trend of average daily Covid-19 cases.
The decline in the nationwide daily average of coronavirus cases appears to be tied to Sabah, the current Covid-19 epicentre in the country.
It is unclear why Covid-19 cases are rising in the Klang Valley despite the CMCO that has ground businesses to a halt and kept most residents at home. The Ministry of Health (MOH) has not announced that it significantly increased testing rates in the Klang Valley during the CMCO that has been extended to December 6.
From the total of 30,828 Covid-19 cases from October 3 until today, Sabah recorded 62.64 per cent, or 19,312 cases. A total of 15.78 per cent, or 4,866 cases, were recorded in the Klang Valley.
Of the 4,866 Covid-19 cases in Klang Valley, Selangor registered 87.38 per cent or 4,252 cases from October 3 until today.
National Covid-19 Highlights
The Ministry of Health (MOH) recorded 869 Covid-19 cases in the country today with one imported case.
Sabah and Klang Valley identified 75.37 per cent of cases from the total Covid-19 cases in the country.
A total of 12 states in Malaysia registered 868 local transmissions today:
- Sabah: 397 cases
- Selangor: 235 cases
- Negeri Sembilan: 141 cases
- Penang: 27 cases
- Kuala Lumpur: 19 cases
- Perak: 12 cases
- Kelantan: Nine cases
- Labuan: Eight cases
- Johor: Eight cases
- Sarawak: Six cases
- Kedah: Three cases
- Putrajaya: Three cases
MOH also reported six deaths related to Covid-19 in Sabah among people from the age of 53 to 84. Four among them had underlying health conditions like benign prostatic hyperplasia (enlarged prostate gland), diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, uterine cancer, breast cancer, osteoarthritis, parkinson disease, and Hepatitis B.
That brings the total Covid-19 deaths in the country to 300.
Of the 11,446 active Covid-19 patients, 82 people are receiving treatment in the intensive care unit, including 27 patients under ventilator support.
Malaysia identified four new Covid-19 clusters in the country — three in Sabah and one in Kelantan.
Firstly, the Liawan cluster was detected in Keningau, Sabah with 24 positive cases so far. The index patient of the cluster was identified on November 5 through a symptomatic screening.
Secondly, the Tatahan cluster was identified in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. The index patient of this cluster was identified with the disease on November 1 through a symptomatic screening. So far, this cluster has recorded 18 positive cases.
The GK tawau cluster was detected in Tawau, Sabah, with 49 positive cases altogether.
Finally, the Kube cluster, which involved Kota Bharu and Tanah Merah in Kelantan, registered 10 positive cases thus far.
All of the index patients of the four new clusters were identified through symptomatic screenings, which indicate that the source of infection is unknown.
So far, Malaysia has recorded 42,050 Covid-19 cases.
Today, Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah stated the ministry will thoroughly analyse the safety and efficacy of 11 Covid-19 vaccines which are in Phase 3 trials.
“We wait for the Phase 3 clinical trials first before we can commit. Obviously there’ll be a lot of logistic issues. There’s actually a cold chain of a negative degree for example. We need to provide all that infrastructure before we can procure the vaccine,” Dr Noor Hisham told in a press conference today.
Pfizer and partner BioNTech recently announced that their Covid-19 vaccine was 90 per cent effective in preventing symptomatic Covid-19 infection, but the vaccine must be stored at -70 degrees Celsius or below, an ultra-low temperature that poses logistical issues not just in Malaysia, but in the United States itself.
