KUALA LUMPUR, June 15 — Malaysia’s lockdown measures appear to have succeeded in curbing Covid-19 cases, as the national positive rate has declined to 6.61 per cent in the past week despite reduced testing.
In the 23rd epidemiological week of the year (June 6-12), seven states reported positive rates below 5 per cent, indicating sufficient testing as per the World Health Organization’s (WHO) benchmark: Perak, Kedah, Sabah, Penang, Terengganu, Pahang, and Perlis.
The past week, the Ministry of Health (MOH) reported 41,630 new Covid-19 cases nationwide, a reduction of 20 per cent compared to 52,040 infections reported in the 22nd epidemiological week (May 30 to June 5). A total of 53,419 Covid-19 cases were reported in the 21st epidemiological week from May 23 to 29.
Malaysia’s national positive rate declined to 6.61 per cent in the week of June 6-12 from 7.28 per cent logged in the 22nd epidemiological week (May 30 to June 5). In the 21st epidemiological week (May 23-29), the national positive rate was 6.89 per cent.
Notably, the decline in the national positive rate last week — albeit still high at 6.61 per cent, indicating more undetected infections — occurred despite reduced testing since the 21st epidemiological week.
In the past week itself from June 6 to 12, Covid-19 testing in Malaysia dropped by 85,329 individuals sampled compared to the 22nd epidemiological week.
The number of individuals tested for Covid-19 from May 23 to June 12:
- 21st epidemiological week (May 23-29): 774,973
- 22nd epidemiological week (May 30 – June 5): 715,223
- 23rd epidemiological week (June 6-12): 629,894
Most states saw a decline in their Covid-19 testing rate in the week of June 6 to 12 compared to the previous week, with Selangor having the highest decrease of 27,028 individuals sampled.
Only three states (Melaka, Pahang and Sabah) had an increase in Covid-19 testing the past week compared to the 22nd epidemiological week, with Sabah increasing its testing by 7,360 individuals sampled.
Despite a drop in testing numbers with lower Covid-19 cases nationwide, seven states observed positive rates of less than 5 per cent in the past week from June 6 to 12. The states with a positive rate below 5 per cent are:
- Perlis: 1.81 per cent
- Pahang: 2.82 per cent
- Terengganu: 3.45 per cent
- Penang: 3.54 per cent
- Sabah: 4.35 per cent
- Kedah: 4.64 per cent
- Perak: 4.71 per cent
In the 23rd epidemiological week, nine states or federal territories recorded positive rates above 5 per cent:
- Labuan: 13.72 per cent
- Negeri Sembilan: 10.82 per cent
- Selangor: 8.79 per cent
- Kelantan: 8.05 per cent
- Kuala Lumpur: 7.24 per cent
- Johor: 6.52 per cent
- Sarawak: 5.96 per cent
- Putrajaya: 5.62 per cent
- Melaka: 5.60 per cent
Of the 10 states that showed a decrease in their positive rates from the 22nd to 23rd epidemiological week, Kedah had the biggest decline at 2.42 percentage points (from 7.07 to 4.64 per cent). This was followed by Terengganu, whose positive rate decreased by 2 percentage points between both weeks (from 5.45 to 3.45 per cent).
Six states and federal territories recorded higher positive rates the past week from June 6 to 12 compared to the previous week of May 30 to June 5:
- Labuan: from 9.74 per cent to 13.72 per cent
- Negeri Sembilan: from 9.63 per cent to 10.82 per cent
- Johor: 5.61 per cent to 6.52 per cent
- Sarawak: 5.37 per cent to 5.96 per cent
- Putrajaya: 4.39 per cent to 5.62 per cent
- Sabah: 4.10 per cent to 4.35 per cent
Labuan’s positive rate increased by 3.98 percentage points to a whopping 13.72 per cent positive rate the past week, amid the spread of the Delta variant — believed to be more transmissible — in the small population of less than 100,000 residents.
Putrajaya had the next highest increase in its positive rate by 1.24 percentage points to 5.62 per cent in the 23rd epidemiological week.