The Malaysian Insight

THERE has been a 160% increase in Covid-19 infections involving newborns and children up to the age of 11, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said today.

He said that this is a concerning development and encouraged parents of children aged between five and 12 to get their children vaccinated. 

“The point is, the cases have increased among paediatric patients. We are seeing an increase in the number of hospitalisations among children.

“For newborns and children aged four and below, there is still no recognised Covid-19 vaccine worldwide.

“We hope with the increase in cases among children, parents will give permission for their children (aged five to 12) to be vaccinated,” he said at a press conference today.

To date, fewer than 1 million children aged between five and 12 have been registered for vaccination, he said.

In the fifth week of 2022, Khairy said there were 6,524 Covid-19 cases among newborns and children up to age 11. 

He said 2,282 infections involved newborns and children up to four years old, while 4,242 involved children aged between five and 11.

“In the sixth week, cases among this group went up to 16,959, of which 10,796 involved children aged five to 11 and 6,163 involved newborns and children aged four and below.” – February 17, 2022.