Malaysia’s Covid-19 Cases Rise After Three-Month Decline

New Covid-19 cases increased 11% nationwide last week — rising for the first time after an 11-week decline, since the Aug 15-21 peak, to 5,597 average daily infections Nov 7-13.

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 16 — Malaysia’s declining Covid-19 trend has taken a turn, as new infections rose for the first time last week in 12 weeks since the epidemic peaked mid-August.

Weekly new Covid-19 infections rose by 3,878 cases, or 11 per cent, in the 45th epidemiological week (November 7-13) that recorded 39,181 cases compared to 35,303 cases the previous week (October 31-November 6).

The nation reported an average of 5,597 new cases a day last week, up from the lowest tally of 5,043 average daily new cases the previous week since Malaysia’s peak of 21,562 new infections a day on average during the 33rd epidemiological week of August 15-21.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) has been preparing for a surge of Covid-19 cases by running tabletop exercises with other agencies over the past few days to simulate worst-case scenarios.

MOH recently urged people, especially senior citizens, to take booster shots to curb waning immunity from primary Covid-19 vaccination, expanding eligibility for additional jabs to over-40s.

Europe is currently experiencing a Covid-19 surge, with the World Health Organization noting on November 12 that nearly two million coronavirus cases were reported in the region last week, the highest in a single week since the pandemic began.

Parts of the Greater Klang Valley showed the highest percentage of increase in new Covid-19 cases when comparing between Epid Week 45 (November 7-13) and Epid Week 44 (October 31-November 6) — Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, and Negeri Sembilan — that reported increases of over 30 per cent.

New Covid-19 cases in Kuala Lumpur rose 40 per cent in that period to 2,265 fresh infections in the past week of November 7-13, the highest in seven weeks since Epid Week 38 (September 19-25) that recorded 2,351 cases.

With an increase of 37 per cent, Putrajaya reported the second highest percentage rise in new coronavirus cases from Epid Week 44 (October 31-November 6) to Epid Week 45 (November 7-13).

The country’s administrative centre has been showing a trend of increasing cases for the past four consecutive weeks, from 163 new cases in Epid Week 42 (October 17-23) to 345 new cases in Epid Week 45 (November 7-13).

Negeri Sembilan, on the other hand, reported 1,509 new coronavirus infections the past week, an increase of 30 per cent from the previous week that recorded 1,158 new cases. The past week of November 7-13 recorded the highest number of new infections the past nine weeks since Epid Week 36 (September 5-11) that reported 1,604 new cases.

Labuan and Selangor reported a rise of over 20 per cent in new cases between Epid Week 44 (October 31-November 6) and Epid Week 45 (November 7-13). Kedah, Penang, Perak, and Perlis recorded a low rise of less than 10 per cent in new cases in that period.

Pahang and Johor reported increases of 18 per cent and 14 per cent respectively in new Covid-19 infections the past week.

Overall, 11 states and federal territories reported an increase in new Covid-19 cases the past week.

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