KUALA LUMPUR, May 26 — About 26 per cent of 803 Covid-19 deaths recorded in Malaysia this month were young adults aged below 60 years, as the nation’s health care system struggles to cope with a surge of infections.
More than one in 10 among those aged below 60 who succumbed to Covid-19, or about 17 per cent, did not have any reported comorbidities.
Between May 1 and May 24, a total of 803 fatalities due to Covid-19 were recorded nationwide, the highest number of deaths reported in less than a month since the beginning of the Malaysian epidemic. The first 500 deaths took 11 months from March 2020 to January 2021 to be reported.
Out of the 803 fatalities reported in the past three weeks, 209 were among those below the age of 60, while 594 deaths were among those aged 60 and above at about 74 per cent.
Among the 209 fatalities of those below the age of 60 years, 36 of them (17.22 per cent) did not have any reported underlying diseases.
From May 1 to 24, seven patients who died due to Covid-19 were below the age of 30. On May 23, two patients in their twenties, with no reported underlying conditions, died after being infected with the coronavirus.
Although there were more people above the age of 60 who died due to Covid-19, the proportion of people below the age of 60 who died have been increasing lately.
Over the past three weeks, the average daily number of individuals below 60 who died due to Covid-19 also increased. Between May 4 and May 10, on an average, five people below the age of 60 died daily.
Then, between May 11 and May 17, nine people below the age of 60 died from Covid-19 daily on an average. Following that, between May 18 and May 24, the average number of people below 60 who died daily from the coronavirus increased to about 14.
This simply means over the past week, every day, 14 young people died because of Covid-19.
Selangor Comprises Over A Third Of Covid-19 Deaths Among Under-60s
Out of the 209 Covid-19 deaths reported below the age of 60 from May 1 to 24, Selangor recorded 71 of them, or 33.97 per cent, the highest number of fatalities in that age group in the country.
Selangor’s 71 Covid-19 deaths among people aged below 60 also represented more than a quarter, or 28.29 per cent, of its 251 fatalities reported in that period.
Medical frontliners from Klang Valley have previously told CodeBlue during this current surge of Covid-19 cases, they are seeing younger patients presenting to the hospital with severe Covid-19. On top of that, doctors also said that these patients deteriorate rapidly.
Johor had the second highest number of deaths below the age of 60 years (36 deaths), which means that 34.95 per cent of the 103 Covid-19 deaths reported in the southern state from May 1 to 24 were below the age of 60.
Meanwhile, Kuala Lumpur came in third highest with 16 deaths reported among those below the age of 60.
Putrajaya and Perlis only had deaths among those 60 and above between May 1 and May 24.
Males Comprise Over 60% Of Covid-19 Deaths Among Under-60s And Older
Earlier this month, CodeBlue reported that 62.1 per cent of deaths reported between those aged 25 to 54 between March 31 and May 4 were males, while 37.9 per cent were females.
Similarly, between May 1 and May 24, out of the 209 Covid-19 fatalities among people aged below 60, the proportion of males below the age of 60 who died was 62.1 per cent (130 individuals) and females were 37.9 per cent (79 individuals).
In this period of time, Perlis and Putrajaya only had deaths among those who were 60 years and above.
States and federal territories which had males making up more than 50 per cent of their deaths among those below the age of 60 include :
- Labuan: 100 per cent
- Pahang: 80 per cent
- Negeri Sembilan: 77.78 per cent
- Penang: 75 per cent
- Selangor: 70.42 per cent
- Johor: 66.67 per cent
- Sabah: 66.67 per cent
- Melaka: 62.5 per cent
- Perak: 62.5 per cent
- Kuala Lumpur: 56.25 per cent
Terengganu had an equal proportion of male and female deaths among those below the age of 60.
Meanwhile, among the 594 Covid-19 deaths among those aged 60 and above reported from May 1 to 24, males also took up the bigger proportion in all states and federal territories except for Putrajaya, whose sole death in that age group in that period was a woman.
Males comprised 370 deaths, or 62.3 per cent.
