COVID-19 weekly round-up: Active cases dip below 500

The number of active cases as of noon yesterday stood at 408, as revealed by Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah in his press statement yesterday.

Active cases fell below the 1,000 mark on Sunday (June 14) with 986 cases and continued dropping after that. On Monday, there were 973 such cases, Tuesday 651 and Wednesday 521.

The death toll remained at 121 as no new fatality was reported since Monday.

As for recoveries, 127 patients were discharged over the 24-hour period up to noon yesterday, bringing the total number of recovered cases to 8,000, which translates to 93.8 per cent of the cumulative total of COVID-19 cases in Malaysia.

Malaysia’s COVID-19 recovery rate is among the highest in the world. The highest number of recovered cases was recorded on Tuesday when 333 patients were discharged.

Meanwhile, imported cases and local transmissions involving non-citizens continued to dominate new cases reported this week. Over the 24-hour span yesterday, 14 new cases were reported of which three were imported. The remaining 11 involved seven non-citizens and four Malaysians.

This week also saw new cases dwindling to a single-digit on Tuesday when only eight new infections were reported, comprising two imported cases and six local transmissions involving four non-citizens and two Malaysians.

As of Thursday, four patients were being treated in intensive care units with none requiring ventilator support.

For the record, Thursday marked 90 days since the Movement Control Order was enforced on March 18. The nation is currently in the Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO) phase from June 10 to Aug 31.

Malaysia will only declare itself COVID-19 free after it records zero new cases for 28 days consecutively.

Home quarantine: Beginning June 10, Malaysians returning home from overseas are allowed to undergo quarantine in their own homes. They are required to take a swab test upon arrival at the entry point and if the result is positive, they will be sent to the hospital immediately. If it is negative, they will be allowed to return home but must self-quarantine for 14 days.

Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob has said that the returnees will also be required to wear the quarantine wristband and download the MySejahtera app on their mobile phone to facilitate the monitoring process.

Malaysians abroad have also been advised to screen themselves for COVID-19 three days before returning to their homeland to avoid the long queue of people at the airport waiting to take the swab test.

New clusters: On Monday, Dr Noor Hisham said the health authorities have detected a new COVID-19 cluster involving a welfare home for senior citizens in Kuala Selangor, Selangor. So far seven people from the home were tested positive.

Another new cluster in Sabah was reported on Wednesday. It is related to a senior citizen who passed away at home on June 12 and was confirmed COVID-19 positive after the body was taken to a hospital.

Dexamethasone: On reports citing experts from the United Kingdom that the drug dexamethasone cuts the risk of death by one-third for patients on ventilators and cuts mortality by one-fifth for those on oxygen, Dr Noor Hisham said the drug should not be taken to treat COVID-19 without any prescription from a doctor as it can lead to side-effects.

He said among its side-effects are Cushing syndrome, thinning of the skin, bone loss and muscle weakness.

Dexamethasone is a steroid drug that is used to reduce inflammation for several illnesses, including cancer. Dr Noor Hisham said the Ministry of Health takes cognisance of early developments in clinical trials for Dexamethasone in treating COVID-19, known as the ‘Recovery Trial’ at the University of Oxford.

“Early findings show that the drug can reduce fatality risks by one third among COVID-19 patients with serious respiratory symptoms, especially Category 5 patients who require ventilators.

“However, the clinical trials also found that the drug was not effective in treating COVID-19 patients with mild symptoms or those who do not require breathing aid,” he said.

He said Dexamethasone is only for use at the intensive care unit with a maximum dosage of four milligrammes for five days among Category 5 patients.

World Health Organisation (WHO) director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, meanwhile, told a media briefing on Wednesday that the world has now recorded more than eight million COVID-19 cases.

He said in the first two months following the outbreak, 85,000 cases were reported but “in the past two months six million cases have been reported”.

There have been more than 435,000 deaths and in the Americas, Africa and South Asia, cases are still rapidly rising, he said.

At a media conference on Monday, he reminded nations that have demonstrated the ability to suppress transmission to stay alert to the possibility of resurgence.

He also pointed to the new COVID-19 cluster that has emerged in Beijing, China after the city reported no new cases for 50 days.

Over the last six days, Beijing had reported 137 new infections, believed to have originated at the Xinfadi wholesale market. A lockdown has been imposed in almost 30 housing areas in Beijing.

According to CoronaTracker (which cites figures from various agencies including WHO), the total number of COVID-19 cases worldwide as at the time of writing this article stood at 8,578,052 with 456,284 deaths. The total number of recoveries stood at 4,530,262.