KUALA LUMPUR, July 22 – Young adults aged 30 to 59 years comprised 33.5 per cent of 3,589 Covid-19 deaths reported from June 1 to July 13, or 1,203 fatalities, during the Full Movement Control Order (FMCO) in Malaysia, while the majority of fatalities occurred among the elderly.
The proportion of young adults succumbing to Covid-19 since last month marked an increase of 8.1 percentage points from 25.4 per cent in the previous six weeks from April 19 to May 31 (361 of 1,418 total fatalities).
The proportion of 30- to 59-year-old deaths peaked at 46.0 per cent of total Covid-19 deaths on July 4 (or 29 of 63 deaths). Similar worrying numbers were reached on June 19 at 45.8 per cent (33 of 72 deaths) and July 13 at 44.0 per cent (55 of 125 deaths).
From July 1 to 13, victims without known comorbidities represented almost a quarter, or 23.0 per cent, of 469 coronavirus-related fatalities recorded in the 30-59 age group in that period, an increase from 21.3 per cent of the 734 deaths in that age group recorded in June.
Out of the 265 Covid-19 deaths in the 30-59 age group in May this year, 16.9 per cent of victims did not have reported underlying conditions.
The increasing trend of Covid-19 deaths among the age group below 60 could be due to the lower vaccination coverage of the highly mobile working adult group, or simply a reflection of the decrease in deaths among the vaccinated elderly.
The proportion of deaths among elderly patients aged 60 years and above fell from 73.13 per cent, or 49 of 67 total deaths on May 31, before the start of the FMCO, to 53.6 per cent, or 67 of 125 total deaths on July 13, amid increased vaccination rates among senior citizens in the country.
Malaysia recorded the fourth highest Covid-19 vaccination rate in the world by inoculating 7.3 per cent of its population from July 6 to July 12, said global data tracker Our World In Data.
Vaccine Minister Khairy Jamaluddin recently said that 2,301,657 people aged 60 and above have received at least their first dose as of July 4, which comprises about 66 per cent of Malaysia’s 3.5 million elderly population.
Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said that hospital admission rates and intensive care unit (ICU) cases related to Covid-19 among the elderly above the age of 60 dropped in the last 6 weeks from May 30 to July 12 as a result of the first and second phases of the vaccination programme, which primarily targeted medical frontline workers, the elderly, and those with comorbidities. He did not give specific figures.
Covid-19 deaths among those below the age of 30 are relatively stagnant, comprising an average of 1.75 per cent of daily Covid-19 deaths since May 30.
Selangor reported the highest number of absolute Covid-19 deaths in the under-60 age group in Malaysia at 527 cases from June 1 to July 13, representing 41.6 per cent of the country’s 1,268 deaths in that age group during the six-week period.
This was followed by Kuala Lumpur with 164 fatalities (12.9 per cent) and Johor with 130 deaths (10.3 per cent).
Meanwhile, Perlis reported no deaths in the under-60 age group. Putrajaya only recorded one death between June 1 and July 13 in the same age group.
Fatalities among under-60s in Labuan made up 52.2 per cent (58 of 111 deaths) of all Covid-19 deaths within the territory between June 1 and July 13.
Melaka and Selangor had the second and third highest proportion of deaths in the under-60 age group, making up 41.9 per cent (62 of 148 deaths) and 39.0 per cent (527 of 1349) of all Covid-19 fatalities in their respective states during that period.
The Ministry of Health (MOH) stopped releasing the age breakdown of Covid-19 deaths since July 14.
