The Malaysian Insight

OF the 17,405 Covid-19 cases reported today, 2,032 of them had been vaccinated, director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said. 

Noor Hisham said the majority of them were in category 1 (asymptomatic) and category 2 (mild symptoms). However he did not state whether the patients were fully vaccinated or not. 

He said a total of 17,031 cases were from these two categories, while a total of 374 were in categories 3 (pneumonia), 4 (requiring oxygen) and 5 (critical condition). 

Earlier today, deputy director-general of health Dr Chong Chee Kheong said the vaccine’s effectiveness is best two weeks after the second dose.

“Many asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic individuals, who are not aware of their infection, are spreading the virus. Remember that the vaccine’s effectiveness is best two weeks after the second dose, so this takes time. 

“An important contribution is the Delta variant that has a high infectivity rate. In addition, we recognise, from the experience and data of nations with high vaccination rates, that infections can still occur due to the Delta variant, although hospitalisation and severe infections are significantly reduced,” Chong said. 

From today’s cases, 10 of them originated from the Delta variant, which is a variant of concern (VOC). 

Health authorities have detected as many as 419 cases originating from VOCs.

The current VOCs in the country are the Beta, Delta and Alpha. – July 28, 2021.