Day: April 4, 2022

KUALA LUMPUR, April 4 (Bernama) — The number of new COVID-19 cases remained below the 15,000 mark for two days in a row with 12,380 cases reported on Sunday (April 3), bringing the case tally in the country to 4,246,467, said Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

On Saturday (April 2), 14,692 cases were reported.

Dr Noor Hisham said of the new cases recorded yesterday, 7,559 were in category one, 4,736 (category two), 32 (category three), 20 (category four) and 33 in category five, the most severe category.

“Of the 85 cases that comprised categories three to five, 24 were not vaccinated or not fully vaccinated, 33 had received two doses of vaccine but not the booster dose, while 28 had received booster shots,” he said in a statement here today.

He added that 20,635 recoveries from the virus were reported yesterday, bring cumulative recoveries in the country to 4,018,421 cases.

At the same time, Dr Noor Hisham said out of the number of new cases yesterday, 253 required treatment in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), while 157 required respiratory support.

On utilisation of specialised health facilities for COVID-19 cases, he said Kuala Lumpur and Selangor recorded ICU bed occupancy of 50 per cent or more as of yesterday, at 60 per cent and 50 per cent respectively.

He said that as for bed occupancy at COVID-19 Low-Risk Quarantine and Treatment Centres (PKRC), no state recorded usage exceeding 50 per cent, while patients needing respirators increased to 157, bringing respirator usage at the facilities to18 per cent.

According to Dr Noor Hisham, 562 COVID-19 cases were admitted to hospitals yesterday with 220 being in categories three, four and five, while the rest in categories one and two.

The national infectivity rate or Rt value stood at 0.85 yesterday with Selangor still recording the highest rate of 1.05 and Kelantan the lowest, at 0.69.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

PUTRAJAYA, April 4 (Bernama) — Starting today until April 15, the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (MOTAC) is reopening the application for its Financial Aid 2022 to tourism operators who missed the chance to apply before.

In a statement, the ministry said feedback revealed that there were many tourism operators who missed the opportunity to apply for the aid when the application was first opened from March 1 to 15.

The government, through Budget 2022, announced the special cash aid to over 20,000 tourism operators, including travel agents (TOBTAB) and Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H), as well as spa and foot massage centre operators registered under MOTAC, involving an allocation of RM85 million.

Hence, MOTAC called on all eligible TOBTAB, MM2H, spa and foot massage centre operators to take this opportunity to apply for the aid online.

More information on the aid and the application link are available at MOTAC’s official website at www.motac.gov.my or by calling the nearest MOTAC office.

“Applications made after the deadline of April 15, 2022, will not be entertained,” it said.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

LABUAN, April 4 (Bernama) — The number of children aged between five and 11, as well as the elderly, who have received or completed the vaccination against COVID-19 in Labuan, is still far below expectations, according to Labuan Health director Dr Ismuni Bohari.

He said this was revealed through scouting conducted by the healthcare personnel throughout the island from Feb 23 until March 29.

“It is quite disappointing to note the small number of these groups taking and completing the vaccination amid the increasing COVID-19 cases involving children and the elderly.

“We have done extensive campaign to get people especially children and elderly to get the shots, but seemingly it fell on deaf ears,” he told Bernama today.

Dr Ismuni said 73 per cent of the 926 children (aged 5-11) scouted have not received the vaccine, and the remaining 254 only received the first dose despite the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme for Kids (PICKids) launched on Feb 7.

“The immunisation rate in adolescents (aged 12-17) improved steadily with 80 per cent of the 699 have completed the vaccine and seven per cent received the first dose, but the remaining 13 per cent have not received a single shot,” he said.

Dr Ismuni said the number of elderly aged above 60 who have not received the vaccine stood at nine per cent of the 468 scouted, four per cent did not receive the vaccine, 30 per cent completed the second dose, and 57 per cent have received the booster shots.

“For adults (aged 18-59), of the 3,534 scouted, 52 per cent have received the booster shots, 43 per cent have completed the second dose, three per cent received the first dose, and the remaining two per cent were unvaccinated,” he said.

Dr Ismuni said that among other reasons that contributed to the least number of recipients taking the vaccine were discouraged by family members and peers, disbelief in vaccine, confidence in self-immunity and that two doses of vaccine are sufficient.

“Some of them had also stated unpreparedness for the vaccination, vaccination is not compulsory, fear of side effects and health reasons, ” he said.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency