KUALA LUMPUR, May 14 — Malaysia has been reporting the highest number of daily new Covid-19 cases per capita in ASEAN after overtaking the Philippines since April 26.
Malaysia reported about 133 new Covid-19 cases per million people on May 13, based on rolling seven-day averages, higher than the Philippines (58) and Indonesia (18), according to Our World In Data. Malaysia surpassed Indonesia in terms of daily new Covid-19 infections per population since October 14 last year.
In comparison to the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK), Malaysia’s daily new Covid-19 cases per million people surpassed the US and the UK since May 10 and April 9 respectively.
On May 13, the US and the UK respectively reported about 107 and 34 Covid-19 cases per million population, compared to Malaysia’s 133 infections.
In terms of daily new confirmed coronavirus cases, without being tied to population size, Malaysia reported 4,307 infections on May 13, based on seven-day rolling averages, slightly fewer than the Philippines (6,365) and Indonesia (4,907).
Malaysia’s Ministry of Health (MOH) today reported 4,113 new Covid-19 cases, the third consecutive day of above 4,000 infections, as well as 34 coronavirus fatalities, the second-highest daily death toll in the epidemic.
The decline in Covid-19 cases in the US and UK, until both countries reported fewer daily infections per population than Malaysia, occurred amid high vaccination rates in the Western countries.
As of yesterday, the US has inoculated 58.9 per cent of its adult population with at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, while 45.6 per cent have been fully vaccinated. The UK, meanwhile, has vaccinated 68.2 per cent of its adult population as of May 12 with at least one dose, as well as 35.9 per cent who have received the second dose.
Malaysia, however, has only vaccinated 4.9 per cent of its 24.3 million adult population above the age of 18 with at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine as of yesterday, as well as 3 per cent of who have been fully vaccinated.
The government administered 61,200 Covid-19 vaccine doses on May 10 nationwide, the highest daily vaccination record in the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK), before falling to a record 24-hour low of just 116 shots to the arm yesterday.
The mere 116 people across the country vaccinated on the first day of Hari Raya comprised 71 in Sarawak, 35 in Selangor, five in Kuala Lumpur, and another five in Negeri Sembilan.
Vaccine Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has blamed sluggish vaccine deliveries for the country’s slow inoculation rate, but said recently that Covid-19 vaccine supply is expected to meet demand from June.
