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COVID: 219 deaths Monday, highest since pandemic hit – Health DG

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 2 — Malaysia on Monday recorded its highest daily COVID-19 death toll since the pandemic hit the country, with 219 fatalities reported over the last 24 hours.

 

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, in a statement, said the latest fatalities bring the total number of COVID-19 deaths in the country to 9,403.

 

The deaths involve 201 Malaysians and 18 foreigners, with 198 of them succumbing to the disease in hospital while another 21 died at home (BID).

 

 

A total of 105 fatalities were reported in Selangor, 41 in Kuala Lumpur, 24 in Johor, nine in Melaka, eight in Pahang, seven in Negeri Sembilan, six each in Kedah and Perak, four each in Kelantan and Terengganu, three in Sabah and one death respectively in Labuan and Perlis.

 

Dr Noor Hisham said of the 15,764 new COVID-19 infections reported today, 286 cases or 1.8 per cent were in Categories three, four and five while 15,478 cases, or 98.2 per cent were Category One and Two patients.

 

Category five refers to critical cases requiring ventilator support, category four are patients with pneumonia requiring oxygen support, category three involves those with pneumonia while categories two and one are those with light symptoms and who are asymptomatic respectively.

 

 

He said their status is based on the patients’ clinical conditions just after being diagnosed with COVID-19.

 

“There are cases which remain in the same category throughout the infection period, but there are also those who improve to lower categories or worsen to higher ones.

 

“Overall, 3,525 cases or 22.4 per cent of the total number of cases reported today have been vaccinated with at least one dose,”  he said.

 

Dr Noor Hisham said 1,063 COVID-19 patients are being treated in the intensive care unit, with 532 of them requiring respiratory support.

 

Also, there were 11,767 recovered cases reported overnight, taking the total number of recoveries to 937,732. There are also 199,051 active cases currently, he said.

 

On the 29 new clusters identified today, Dr Noor Hisham said 13 of them were linked to the workplace, 11 in the community, three involved high-risk groups, and a religious and education cluster respectively.

 

Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham said the country’s COVID-19 infectivity rate (R-naught or Rt) has been declining in the last three consecutive days, with 1.08 reported yesterday compared to 1.10 on July 31 and 1.12 on July 30.

 

Perlis is the state with the highest Rt with 1.53, followed by Terengganu (1.35) and Kelantan (1.25).

 

Other states also recorded an Rt above 1.0 except for Negeri Sembilan (0.93) and Labuan (0.63).

 

 

 

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

 

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Opposition gathering, a futile attempt to convene Parliament

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 2 — Several opposition Members of Parliament who marched to Parliament Building despite knowing that the Special Sitting of the Third Session of the 14th Parliament has been postponed, were making a futile attempt when they knew their action would not change the decision.

 

Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) Human Ecology Faculty lecturer Associate Prof Dr Mohd Izani Mohd Zain said their action was only to gain public attention especially the international community.

 

“This assembly was clearly in violation of the standard operating procedure and the physical distancing requirement. It is feared that these MPs could influence other groups after this to hold more gatherings and breach the SOP.

 

 

“This should not be happening as COVID-19 infection cases are still high. The objective cannot justify defying the SOP…as I said before, are these politicians immune to COVID-19,?” he said when contacted by Bernama today.

 

Today, a group of opposition MPs attempted to enter Parliament building compound and insisted on resuming the special sitting even though it has been postponed on the advice of the Ministry of Health following the spread of COVID-19.

 

Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Faculty of Administrative Science and Policy Studies senior lecturer at Raub Campus, Pahang,  Dr Che Hamdan Che Mohd Razali said the action of the MPs was to pressure Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

 

 

“They have respectively weighed the pros and cons of the action. But we could see how the greed of political players could give a bad image and example not only to the people but also the international community.

 

“For politicians, they look from the impact from the number of MPs who gathered this morning to show the extent of support for the opposition block,” he said.

 

A political and social media analyst from UiTM Shah Alam, Selangor, Associate Prof Dr Sara Chinnasamy stressed that the action of the opposition leaders who assembled as a protest following the postponement of Parliament sitting could endanger many others.

 

“Instead of putting the people lives’ first, the followers who joined the protest are at risk, the opposition needs to put politics aside and work for the betterment of the nation and the people especially during this crucial time as COVID-19 cases continue to rise,” she said.

 

UPM Epidemiology expert Associate Prof Dr Malina Osman however viewed the gathering should not have taken place now to avoid sparking a new COVID-19 cluster.

 

“At the moment, for those who wish to contribute to the good of the nation need to come together to find the strategy in solving the COVID-19 pandemic and not to find faults. They have to think about the best for country and the government at the same time should be open to discussion towards seeking solutions,” she said.

 

 

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

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Delta variant in Pasir Puteh may have spread to other districts – JKNK

KOTA BHARU, Aug 2 — The Kelantan Health Department (JKNK) believes the Delta Variant reported in Pasir Puteh may have spread to several districts such as Bachok and Tanah Merah, causing a surge in COVID-19 infections in the state.

 

Its director Datuk Dr Zaini Hussin said with the increasing trend of COVID-19 infections at the moment, it was possible that the variant was already in the community.

 

“Currently, we are tracking one case involving Delta Variant on July 23 and several more samples are still being analysed.

 

 

“The process of identifying this variant takes some time and the best step is to adopt the standard operating procedures (SOP) to prevent infection,” he told reporters after inspecting the COVID-19 Public-Private Partnership (PIKAS) Industrial Immunisation Programme, here today.

 

As of yesterday, a total of six new clusters were recorded in the state, bringing the total number of clusters to 123.

 

“Almost every day we record new clusters and yesterday a new cluster case was recorded involving an eight-year-old boy in Kampung Tok Junuh near Mahligai, Bachok.

 

 

“From the cluster, a total of 13 positive cases were recorded,” he said.

 

 

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

 

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All teachers expected to receive first vaccine dose before September

 

KOTA TINGGI, Aug 1 — Some 85,000 teachers in schools nationwide, are expected to receive at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine before the school session begins this September.

 

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba said the Ministry of Education (MOE) has given the full list of names to the COVID-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF) to ensure that the teaching fraternity are vaccinated before schools reopen.

 

Dr Adham said apart from teachers, the implementation team and support service staff including the canteen operators, school bus and van drivers as well as security guards would also be vaccinated in order to achieve herd immunity.

 

 

“… and I  have personally looked into the matter and made the request to CITF to see that the group is given their vaccine before September,” he told reporters after checking on the National Heart Institute (IJN) vaccination outreach programme at the Semanggar Multipurpose Hall, here today.

 

To date, 326,998 teachers have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine while a total of 215,999 teachers have been fully vaccinated.

 

On getting students aged 12 to 17 vaccinated, he said the MOH was evaluating more accurate and latest clinical data from Pfizer before any decision could be made.

 

 

Meanwhile, through the IJN outreach programme which began last Friday, 1,500 vaccine doses would be administered for the  Orang Asli community from Kampung Kempas Menang, Kampung Pasir Intan and Kampung Sayung Pinang in the Kota Tinggi district.

 

A recipient, Norliah Salleh, 57, in lauding the joint collaboration between the government and IJN said, the move had eased those living in the interior areas.

 

“I was fearful at first, but after getting my shot I felt fine. Hopefully after this I will be able to visit all my grandchildren, said Norliah from Kampung Kempas Menang, who was coaxed into getting the vaccine by her nephew.

 

Meanwhile, Amirul Rahim, 25, said she was happy and relieved to get her vaccine dose and thankful that the vaccination process went smoothly.

 

 

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

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Increase in COVID-19 cases causing sharp drop in blood collection – MOH

PUTRAJAYA, Aug 1 — The increase in COVID-19 cases between May 31 and July 25 has led to a sharp drop in blood collection nationwide, especially in the Klang Valley, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said.

 

He said among the factors for the shortage were concerns by the public and donors on safety issues during the blood donation process as well as cancellations of blood donation programmes.

 

“This declining trend is extremely worrying and can affect patient treatment capacity,” he said in a statement today.

 

 

Dr Noor Hisham said the Health Ministry (MoH), the National Blood Centre (PDN) and blood banks have always prioritised the safety of blood donors, blood donation campaign organisers and staff to ensure a safe blood donation process.

 

He said each blood bank must comply with standard operating procedures (SOP) based on ‘Guidelines for Prevention and Control During Blood Donation Activities to Curb the Transmission of Infectious Diseases COVID-19-Annex 49’ to improve public safety.

 

According to him, the guidelines have been updated recently in line with international guidelines which have SOPs that require blood donors and health workers to be certified healthy before entering blood donation venues.

 

 

“This includes conducting preliminary screening on prospective donors with only those who show no symptoms, are not infected with COVID-19 or have no close contact with COVID-19 patients within 14 days can donate blood,” he said.

 

“The arrival of donors to the donation venues is always monitored and limited to a certain number at a time to ensure physical distancing during the donation process is complied with,” he said.

 

Dr Noor Hisham said registration desks, blood donation equipment, beds and stress balls are continuously cleaned by health staff.

 

He said blood donation needs to continue even though the country was facing the COVID-19 pandemic as it was to help patients in need.

 

This includes emergency patients for cases such accidents or complications during childbirth, premature babies who lack blood, thalassemia patients, cancer patients, those with kidney failure as well as those who need to undergo critical and complex surgery, he said.

 

In addition, he said of late, there were also many COVID-19 patients, especially those with a background of chronic diseases, who also needed blood transfusions.

 

Dr Noor Hisham said the average amount of blood needed per week for patient use nationwide was 14,000 bags of blood, including at blood centres, which needed 3,500 to 4,000 bags of blood per week to supply to hospitals in the Klang Valley.

 

MOH called on the public to immediately come forward to donate blood at PDN, PDN Donation Suite, Midvalley Mall, Puspanita Blood Donation Suite, Precinct 10, Putrajaya and nearby blood banks as well as during mobile blood donation campaigns to ensure adequate blood supply at all times in hospitals.

 

The PDN in Jalan Tun Razak operates Monday to Friday from 7.30 am to 8 pm and from 8 am to 4 pm on weekends.

 

The PDN Donation Suite, Midvalley Mall and the Puspanita Blood Donation Suite, Precinct 10, Putrajaya operate daily from 10 am to 6 pm.

 

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

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Command centre will also serve as reference centre – Abang Johari

KUCHING, Aug 1 — The Sarawak government’s command centre, which is currently under construction, will also serve as a data and information storage centre for all ministries and state government agencies, said Chief Minister, Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg.

 

He said that all the information available in the command centre will serve as a reference for the state government, to see what is happening, and the activities carried out under the ministries and agencies in their respective areas.

 

“At the same time, we can identify problems and weaknesses in delivering services to the people as a whole, in line with the Smart Sarawak initiative,” he said in his speech at the 33rd Kuching City Day celebration, held at the State Legislative Assembly Building here today.

 

 

Abang Johari also proposed that Kuching North City Hall (DBKU) and Kuching South City Council (MBKS) develop their own command centre, so that all information can be shared directly with the state government’s command centre in line with the theme of this year’s Kuching City Day celebration, ‘Digital Transformation towards Shaping a Smart Kuching City’.

 

“In this context, DBKU and MBKS need to move in tandem, and fast, to achieve smart city status by 2022.

 

“There is still much more to be done and implemented if we want to achieve Smart City status. But I am confident that with the development of increasingly sophisticated digital technology, and the expertise of a very proactive workforce, we will definitely be able to achieve it,” he said.

 

 

Meanwhile, DBKU mayor, Datuk Junaidi Reduan, said that, as an initial step to transforming services in line with Sarawak’s Digital Economy Strategy, the city hall had formulated, and would implement the e-DBKU Plan starting this year.

 

He said that the e-DBKU Plan, expected to be completed in 2025, includes three main components, namely innovative digital solutions, service delivery and smart city.

 

“DBKU, as the administrator, regulator and maintainer of the city, needs to deliver efficient and effective services to meet the aspirations and needs of our customers, the residents of Kuching.

 

“In the near future, the initial phase of the e-DBKU Plan will be realised, and can be completed within five years as planned,” he said.

 

 

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

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Over 20 tonnes of food aid distributed in Santubong – Wan Junaidi

KUCHING, Aug 1 — More than 20 tonnes of food aid have been distributed in the Santubong parliamentary constituency since last week to families living in villages placed under the Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO) and those under home quarantine.

 

To date, more than 3,000 families comprising over 13,000 residents from Tabuan Melayu, Bintawa Hilir and several other villages in the area have received the food supply from its Member of Parliament Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.

 

Wan Junaidi in a statement today said each household received a food pack of essential items including canned food and fresh meat and chicken.

 

 

He said a special task force from his parliamentary service centre was now actively delivering the food aid to those in need, especially villagers affected by the lockdown.

 

“I am constantly communicating with my officers to get updates on the situation.

 

“We are doing our best to ensure that my constituents are taken care of. Similarly, those who are in need of assistance should not hesitate to contact my parliamentary service centre,” he added.

 

 

On Thursday, 3.4 tonnes of food supply was delivered by the team from this service centre to 820 families in Bintawa Hilir, involving 3,000 residents.

 

Bintawa Hilir is one of several areas in Sarawak placed under the EMCO from July 21 to Aug 3 following the high number of COVID-19 cases detected.

 

 

 

Source: BERNAMA News Agency