KUALA LUMPUR, May 24 — Average daily new Covid-19 cases per population in Malaysia exceeded India since yesterday, as Malaysia battles a crippling new surge of infections nearly overwhelming the health care system.
According to Johns Hopkins University data published on Our World In Data, Malaysia reported 185.30 daily new confirmed coronavirus infections per million people on May 23 on a rolling seven-day average, compared to 184.99 cases and 76.31 new cases per million people in India and the United States respectively.
That means yesterday, Malaysia reported 185.3 new Covid-19 cases for every million residents, based on the average over the past seven days. Using per capita data enables comparison between countries with large and small populations.
India’s case trajectory on a per capita basis has been trending downwards since May 8, while Malaysia’s continues to rise.
When it comes to actual daily new Covid-19 cases reported per population — not based on a seven-day average — Malaysia surpassed India since May 20, recording 210.28 new infections that day compared to 188.08 cases in India and 91.06 new cases in the US.
Yesterday, on May 23, without using a rolling seven-day average, Malaysia reported 215.53 new Covid-19 cases per million people, compared to 161.1 cases in India and 38.59 in the US.
Malaysia’s population is about 32.7 million people, compared to about 1.4 billion in India and the US’ 328.3 million population. Yesterday, Malaysia reported 5,997.29 new Covid-19 cases based on a rolling seven-day average, lower than 25,258.57 cases in the US and 255,283.43 cases in India, without being tied to population size.
India emerged as the epicentre of the global Covid-19 surge as early as April 5 by registering more than 100,000 new daily Covid-19 cases. The country has recorded a total of more than 26 million Covid-19 infections as well as 300,000 over deaths as of May 23.
India’s health care system has collapsed with the immense number of Covid-19 patients, as the country witnessed more young patients in critical condition, The Guardian reported in April.
Malaysia Overtakes Philippines On Daily Covid-19 Cases Not Tied To Population Size
Malaysia also surpassed the Philippines yesterday in terms of daily new confirmed coronavirus cases — without being tied to population size — with 5997.29 cases, compared to the Philippines’ 5,121.29 cases and Indonesia’s 5,067.14 cases, based on rolling seven-day averages.
Malaysia’s daily new Covid-19 cases — without being tied to per capita basis — have exceeded Indonesia since May 15.
The Philippines has been experiencing a decreasing trend in average daily new Covid-19 infections since April 15, while Malaysia’s daily cases have been rising since April 1.
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 Tops ASEAN On Daily New Covid-19 Deaths Per Capita
As Malaysia battles a huge surge of Covid-19 infections, daily new confirmed Covid-19 deaths per million people have also been increasing in the country since April 23, based on a seven-day rolling average. Daily fatalities multiplied by almost seven times from 0.22 deaths per million people on April 23 to 1.53 yesterday.
Malaysia’s daily new Covid-19 deaths per million population, based on a seven-day rolling average, have exceeded Indonesia since May 12 and the Philippines since May 16. Yesterday, the Philippines and Indonesia recorded 0.99 and 0.65 new fatalities per million population, compared to Malaysia’s 1.53.
Malaysia now tops the ASEAN region in terms of daily new Covid-19 fatalities per capita.
India’s daily new 3.04 Covid-19 fatalities per million population, based on a seven-day rolling average, still exceeded Malaysia’s 1.53 new deaths per million residents yesterday. The US reported 1.65 new Covid-19 deaths per million people yesterday on a declining trajectory with mass vaccination, while Malaysia’s trajectory is rising.
From the past week, from May 17 until May 23, Malaysia registered a total of 346 Covid-19 fatalities.
Earlier, CodeBlue reported that the Ministry of Health (MOH) does not include Covid-19 patients who die post recovery-either from complications due to lengthy hospitalisation or from persistent effects of the disease.
Hence, it is important to note that the death rate reported by MOH may be under-reported and may not represent the actual situation on the ground.
Since the beginning of May, Malaysia has been reporting about 80 per cent sporadic cases from new infections, indicating that the source of transmission for most reported cases is unknown.
At the same time, on May 23, Malaysia recorded a positive rate at 6.57 per cent, exceeding the World Health Organization’s (WHO) maximum benchmark 5 per cent rate, indicating undetected coronavirus infections in the community.
