Category: Medical

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 19 — A total of 3,229 new COVID-19 cases were reported today, bringing the cumulative figure for infections to 2,817,163, as of 12 noon today.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said of the total new cases, 38 cases (1.2 per cent) were in categories three (pneumonia), four (pneumonia and requiring oxygen) and five (critical and needing ventilators), while 3,191 cases (98.8 per cent) were in categories one and two (no symptoms and mild symptoms).

“Of the total, 239 are imported cases and 2,990 are local transmissions. Meanwhile, 162 cases require treatment in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) with 76 cases require respiratory assistance,” he said in a statement today.

He also said that 2,848 recoveries were reported, bringing the cumulative number of recovered cases to 2,744,203.

Dr Noor Hisham said 20 new clusters had also been identified, bringing the total number of active clusters to 201.

He said the country’s COVID-19 infectivity rate (Rt) today was at 0.99 with Kuala Lumpur recording the highest Rt value of 1.08.

He also advised the public to continue to adhere to the health recommendations, including receiving COVID-19 vaccine injections to reduce the risk of serious infection and the number of deaths, as well as building herd immunity at the same time.

“By taking the vaccine and the booster dose, we can protect the people around us from the possibility of COVID-19 infection.

“Once the herd immunity is achieved, groups that are not yet eligible for immunisation can be protected,” he said.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

KOTA KINABALU, Jan 19 — Sabah has reported a new COVID-19 cluster with the index case being a male student of Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Sandakan and up to today, 73 positive cases have been recorded from this cluster.

State Housing and Local Government Minister, Datuk Masidi Manjun said the 16-year-old student was detected positive for the virus after undergoing the RTK AG test on Jan 16 and was quarantined and given treatment.

“The index case was screened after having the symptoms of fever, cough and a cold on the same day (Jan 16).

“Then the screening done on 117 students detected 72 positive cases, bringing the cumulative number to 73. All the positive cases are categorised as mild (categories one and two) and are being quarantined and treated.

“The Jalan Pertukangan Cluster, Sandakan is an educational institution cluster as it occurs at the SMK Sandakan hostel in Jalan Pertukangan, mukim Pantai Elopura,” he said in the statement issued.

Masidi, who is also the spokesman for the Sabah government on COVID-19, said a total of 242 new cases were reported today, bringing the cumulative number to 244,823.

He added that another 230 patients had recovered, bringing the total number so far to 237,074 while 724 were still being treated for the viral infection.

Two deaths from COVID-19 were reported today, one of which was in Tuaran and the other in Kota Marudu.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

ALOR SETAR, Jan 19 — The sale of fake COVID-19 vaccination certificates has also been detected in Kedah, said State Health and Local Government Committee chairman Datuk Dr Mohd Hayati Othman.

He said an investigation was underway to identify whether the sale of the certificate was done by doctors at a government or private health clinic.

“At present, I cannot reveal whether this case involves a government doctor or at a private health centre. This case is still under investigation by police and the state Health Department,” he said when met by reporters after the state executive council meeting here today.

He said the investigation will also try to identify whether the sale of fake vaccination certificates was linked to any syndicate operating in other states.

Yesterday, Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Razarudin Husain reportedly said police had received reports from four states so far, namely Selangor, Terengganu, Johor and Kelantan regarding private clinics selling fake vaccination certificates.

On Jan 8, Terengganu police arrested a doctor at a private clinic on suspicion of issuing fake COVID-19 vaccine certificates in Marang.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 18 — A total of 237,703 individuals of the adult population in the country received the COVID-19 booster dose yesterday (Jan 17), bringing the cumulative number of booster doses administered to 9,609,454 or 41 per cent of the group as at 11.59 last night.

According to the Ministry of Health (MOH)’s COVIDNOW portal, a total of 22,906,072 or 97.8 per cent of the adult population were fully vaccinated while 23,185,749 individuals or 99 per cent of the group received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine injection.

For adolescents, aged 12 to 17, a total of 2,775,059 individuals or 88.2 per cent have completed their vaccination while 2,862,198 individuals or 91 per cent have received at least one dose of the vaccine.

Meanwhile, daily statistics showed that 242,705 doses of vaccine were administered yesterday, with 1,912 as the first dose, 3,090 as the second dose, bringing the cumulative number of vaccines administered under the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) to 61,135,763.

Meanwhile, according to the MOH’s GitHub portal, 16 COVID-19 deaths were reported yesterday with Selangor recording the highest number of deaths with five cases, followed by Terengganu with three cases and Negeri Sembilan and Penang each recording two cases.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

— Thirty-six COVID-19 cases has been linked up to a cluster at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Tambunan till today, Sabah Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun said.

The Sabah COVID-19 spokesman said that the cluster involved the male dormitory of the school and the index case was an 18-year-old student who was confirmed positive on Jan 13 through a self-screening.

“Close contact screenings on his dormitory friends confirmed another 35 positive cases for a total of 36 cases so far. All positive contacts have been isolated and received treatment.

“Further investigations indicate that the spread and infections are limited to students at the same dormitory,” he said in a statement tonight.

Meanwhile, Masidi said 213 new COVID-19 cases were recorded in the state today, bringing the state’s total to 244,217.

There were also 108 recoveries, bringing the total of recoveries to 236,443, with 761 patients still being treated.

“A total of 22 category four and five patients are unvaccinated,” he said

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 17 — Malaysians are reminded to continue complying with the COVID-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs) during the Thaipusam celebration tomorrow and the Chinese New Year festival next month.

Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin in his tweet today told the public to put on their face masks and practice TRIIS – trace, report, isolate, inform and seek at all times, activate MySJ Trace on the MySejahtera application and get their booster dose.

“We have done well in ensuring COVID-19 infectivity rate remains under control throughout Christmas and the New Year despite Omicron.

“As we head into Thaipusam and CNY (Chinese New Year) daily numbers may go up so keep maintaining the SOPs (especially masks), TRIIS, switch on MySJ Trace in crowded areas and get boosted,” he said.

Khairy said so far 4,724,012 MySejahtera users have activated the MySJ Trace feature and 2,179 positive cases have uploaded their interactions which had helped inform others who have been in close proximity to monitor for symptoms or do a self-test.

“Join the MySJ Trace community to keep each other safe,” he added.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency