The Malaysian Insight

MALAYSIA logged another high of 20,889 Covid-19 cases said director-general of health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

In less than two days the country has reported 41,854 cases, after a staggering figure of 20,596 cases was registered yesterday.

Of the total, some 11,275 cases were from Klang Valley, with Selangor reporting 8,792 and Kuala Lumpur with 2,483 respectively.

Meanwhile, high numbers were also reported in Kedah (1,371), Sabah (1,291), Johor (1,275), Negri Sembilan (986), Kelantan (938), Penang (776), Sarawak (652), Perak (624), Pahang (610), Malacca (491), Terengganu (460), Putrajaya (122), Labuan (nine) and Perlis (nine).

The deputy director-general of health (research and technical support) Dr Hishamshah Mohd Ibrahim had said today that the Delta variant has become the dominant strain in Malaysia, contributing to the rise in Covid-19 cases

Hishamshah said the original strain, which caused the initial set of infections last year, had an infection rate of 2.5.

Comparatively, the Delta variant, which was first documented in India, had a much higher rate of infection, with one infected person being able to transmit the virus to as many as eight people.

He said the variant of concern has also been the dominant strain in the Covid-19 cases reported in the Klang Valley, which is now a virus hotbed.

Up to yesterday Malaysia had administered 514,674 vaccine doses as part of the national Covid-19 immunisation programme, Health Minister Dr Adham Baba said today.

Of yesterday’s figure, 220,839 were first doses, while 293,835 received their second dose, he said.

“The total administration of the Covid-19 vaccine as of yesterday was 23,161,255 doses,” Adham tweeted, citing data from the Covid-19 immunisation task force.

“In total, 15,162,424 people have received the first dose and 7,998,831 people received a second dose.”

The government aims to vaccinate the entire adult population by October. – August 6, 2021.