Category: Medical

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 29 — The daily COVID-19 infections in the country spiked above the 3,000 mark when 3,683 new cases were recorded today, compared to 2,897 cases yesterday, taking the cumulative total to 2,750,516.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said from the total new cases, 56 cases were in categories three, four and five while the remaining transmissions were in categories one and two with no or mild symptoms.

“The daily cases involved 3,444 local infections and 339 import cases. There are 288 cases in the intensive care unit (ICU) while 162 cases require respiratory assistance,” he said in a statement on the development of COVID-19 today.

He said 4,322 recoveries were reported today, taking the cumulative total of recovered patients to 2,677,406.

In this regard, Dr Noor Hisham said six new clusters were detected bringing the total active clusters to 227 while the infectivity rate (Rt) in the country was 0.93 as at yesterday.

He said there were no COVID-19 cases logged among flood victims and overall cases stayed at 434 cases and there were no new clusters reported today among flood victims in temporary relief centres (PPS)

Meanwhile, there were 110 cases of infectious diseases among flood victims involving Acute Respiratory Infections (ARI) (81 cases), skin disease (16) and Acute Gastroenteritis (AGE) (13).

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

GEORGE TOWN, Dec 29 — All 10 Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) field hospitals opened to facilitate treatment for COVID-19 patients have been closed in stages following the decline in the number of patients.

The last two of the hospitals, namely the field hospital at the Penang Hospital (HPP), and the field intensive care unit (ICU) at the Kepala Batas Hospital (HKB), near here, were closed today.

Commander of the Second Division of the Malaysian Infantry, Maj Gen Datuk Muhammad Huzaimi Sabri said the field hospital and the field ICU were closed after the number of COVID-19 cases showed a significant drop as a result of mitigation efforts and the vaccination programme which had seen almost 80 per cent of the country’s population already vaccinated against the coronavirus.

“The objective of the setting up of the military field hospital is to help the hospitals under the Ministry of Health (MOH) in treating COVID-19 patients after bed usage in the hospitals had surpassed 80 per cent of their capacity at that time.

“Throughout the operations of the 24-bed field ICU at HKB since May 28, a total of 421 patients were treated, 381 of whom recovered, and 40 others died. Three military officers and 29 personnel were attached at the hospital during the operations,” he told reporters after attending the symbolic closure of the field hospital at HPP here today.

Muhammad Huzaimi said for the field hospital at HPP, 499 patients were treated there since it was opened on Sept 24, which saw 449 patients recover, and 50 others died.

He said the field hospital had eight ICU beds and 92 regular beds with oxygen tanks and was operated by two MAF officers and personnel.

“The field ICU at HKB provided treatment to COVID-19 patients in categories four and five, while the field hospital at HPP was for those in categories three and four. The MAF is committed to helping the country in handling and breaking the chain of COVID-19 infection,” he said.

In fact, he said MAF was always prepared to reopen the hospitals should the need arise, especially with the increase of cases involving the Omicron variant.

“So far, we have not received any instruction to reopen the field hospitals,” he said.

The field ICU was set up using four military containers to house 12 beds, while 15 other beds were placed in four makeshift tents in the HKB parking lot.

The field hospital at HPP, on the other hand, had 100 beds set up in 23 tents in the hospital’s parking area.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

KOTA BHARU, Dec 28 — Kelantan recorded 223 cases of infectious diseases among flood victims in five districts during the first wave of the floods.

State health director Datuk Dr Zaini Hussin said all the cases were detected during health screenings carried out at over 50 relief centres in Gua Musang, Kuala Krai, Tanah Merah, Jeli and Pasir Mas between Dec 17 and 26.

“Skin infection topped the list of the communicable diseases recorded among flood victims with 95 cases, followed by upper respiratory tract infection (79) and food poisoning or acute gastroenteritis (11), asymptomatic fever (eight),” he told reporters when met at his office here today.

Dr Zaini also reminded the public to consume clean water and food to avoid being infected with leptospirosis, cholera, typhoid and food poisoning during the floods.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

PUTRAJAYA, Dec 28 — The booster dose interval for recipients of the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccine has been shortened to a minimum of three months after the primer vaccine, from six months previously, said Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

He said this meant that a majority of adults aged 18 and above were expected to be eligible for their booster jabs in January and February.

“The Health Ministry (MOH) will increase the capacity for administering vaccines by opening vaccination centres (PPV) at private medical clinics or PPV which will be opened soon at conference halls, as was done under the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK),” he told a media conference here today.

Khairy said appointments would be given to eligible individuals based on their age and health status, including those with comorbidities and chronic diseases.

He stressed that MOH would prioritise the use of Pfizer and AstraZeneca for the booster dose as these two brands of vaccine had a higher efficacy than Sinovac.

“MOH’s suggestion is first choice Pfizer and second choice AstraZeneca. Sinovac (given) only if you are contraindicated against Pfizer and AstraZeneca,” he said.

Khairy said Sarawak, the state which kicked off the booster jab programme on Oct 13, had experienced a declining trend the past two months in terms of daily COVID-19 cases, hospital admissions, cases which require intensive care and also deaths.

He said since the 48th epidemiological week (ME), the number of reported cases had been fewer than 1,000 weekly, from 776 cases in the 48th ME to 208 cases in the 52nd ME.

Deaths due to COVID-19 had also dropped, from 497 cases in October to 24 cases in December as of today, he said.

As of yesterday, booster dose coverage in Sarawak has reached 73.54 per cent.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 28 — Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah today reminded Malaysians not to let their guard down during this holidays season as COVID-19 and its variant are already circulating in the community.

Dr Noor Hisham also advised the public to stay at home if possible, avoid family gatherings if having symptoms and carry out RTK Ag self-test as well as get vaccinated as soon as possible.

“We have the tools now and the onus is on us to use the tools to slow down the infection,” he said in a statement posted on Facebook today.

He also pointed out the importance of striking the right balance between lives and livelihoods despite the surge of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 and the recent floods.

“Together we can make a big difference in controlling the spread of COVID-19 and facilitate our recovery plans,” he added.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

JAKARTA, Dec 28 — The Indonesian health ministry has detected the first case of locally transmitted COVID-19 Omicron variant in a 37-year-old man from the city of Medan.

The man and his wife, who visit Jakarta once a month, arrived the capital city on Dec 6 and had visited the Ashta District 8 Mall in Sudirman Central Business District, South Jakarta on Dec 17.

As a result, the ministry is conducting thorough contact tracing in the area to stop the variant from spreading, said the ministry spokesperson Dr Siti Nadia Tarmidzi.

Speaking at the virtual press conference, she said the man with no overseas travel history and asymptomatic is now in isolation at a hospital.

His antigen swab test was found positive on Dec 19, while his wife was negative, she said, adding that the sample was then sent to the GSI Lab, and the result was later found to be Omicron positive on Dec 26.

With this fresh development, Indonesia recorded 47 cases of Omicron, of which 46 cases were imported cases and one local transmission.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 22 — The daily COVID-19 infections in the country continued to rise for two consecutive days with 3,519 cases reported today compared to 3,140 cases yesterday.

On Monday, a total of 2,589 new cases were reported.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah in a statement on the COVID-19 situation today said of the total new cases, only 65 cases or 1.8 per cent were in categories three, four and five while 3,454 cases or 98.2 per cent were in categories one and two.

Categories one and two refer to asymptomatic and mild COVID-19 patients, while categories three, four and five are patients who either have pneumonia, require oxygen assistance or respiratory aid.

Dr Noor Hisham said 5,118 recoveries were recorded bringing the cumulative recovered cases to 2,647,587, while 331 cases were treated in intensive care units (ICU) with 187 patients requiring respiratory assistance.

Two new clusters were detected today, he said, bringing the total number of active clusters to 234, adding that the Rt (infectivity rate) in the country as of yesterday stood at 0.90.

On the COVID-19 infections at flood relief centres, Dr Noor Hisham said as of 3 pm today, 361 cases were detected among flood victims but no positive cases were reported at the relief centres.

“On Dec 22, a total of 963 or 27.2 per cent of the 3,438 flood victims were examined and given outpatient treatment by medical teams at the relief centres,” he said.

Dr Noor Hisham said the floods could also spread other diseases such as food poisoning, namely acute gastroenteritis (AGE), typhoid, and cholera; hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD); leptospirosis; acute respiratory tract infections (ARI); skin diseases and dengue.

According to him, so far, a total of 203 cases of ARI, 50 cases of skin diseases, 13 cases of AGE, one case of HFMD and 43 cases of other infectious diseases, were recorded today.

He also advised flood victims to inform rescuers if they were COVID-19 positive or identified as close contacts so that necessary measures could be taken during the evacuation process.

Dr Noor Hisham also advised flood victims to comply with the prescribed standard operating procedures (SOP) to contain the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak and medical personnel at all health facilities to take precautionary measures against flood-related diseases.

“The MOH will always monitor and carry out control and prevention activities so that infectious diseases due to floods, especially COVID-19, can be curbed,” he said.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency