Malaysia logs 21 Covid-19 deaths yesterday

KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia has logged 21 Covid-19 deaths as of 11.59pm yesterday, of which nine are brought-in-dead cases, according to the CovidNow portal.

This brings the death toll to 32,180 and cumulative BID cases stand at 6,516.

According to the Health Ministry’s data, Sabah reported nine deaths, followed by four each in Johor and Perak, Kedah (2), and one each in Kelantan and Negri Sembilan.

Of the BID cases, Sabah has the highest with 5, followed by Perak (2), and one each in Kedah and Kelantan.

This comes amid the surge in daily infections due to the Omicron wave.

In comparison, Malaysia had 24 deaths on February 14 and February 11.

Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, through a post on Twitter today, said the country’s infectivity rate (Rt) recorded 1.32 yesterday, with Labuan recording the highest Rt value of 1.96, followed by Sarawak (1.56) and Sabah (1.51).

The ministry has been encouraging the adult population to get their Covid-19 booster jabs while the inoculation programme for children aged 5-11 started early this month.

A total of 289,912 children or 8.2% of the child population have received the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine as of yesterday.

A total of 13,607,475 individuals or 57.8% of the adult population in the country have received the booster dose, while 22,940,521 individuals or 97.5% have completed the vaccination and 98.7% or 23,217,374 individuals have received at least one dose.

Yesterday, Malaysia logged a new all-time high in daily Covid-19 caseloads with 27,831 infections, bringing the cumulative total to 3,111,514.

The nation’s previous record was on August 26 last year, when 24,599 infections were reported.

Noor Hisham said 97 (0.35%) of the cases are in the more severe categories – Category 3 (59 cases or 0.21%), Category 4 (28 cases or 0.10%) and 10 infections in Category 5.

A total of 7,606 (27.33%) cases are in Category 1 while 20,128 (72.32%) are in Category 2, making up 27,734 (99.65%) of the cases.

He said among the 97 cases in the severe categories, 24 (24.7%) patients are unvaccinated, while 51 (52.8%) are fully vaccinated but have not received a booster dose. – The Vibes, February 17, 2022