COVID-19 weekly round-up: Remarkable 78 per cent recovery rate

This week, the number of recovered cases continued to exceed daily new cases, which has maintained its two-digit trend. The lowest number of new cases (16) since the MCO was enforced was recorded on Tuesday (May 12).

As of noon yesterday, a total of 5,351 COVID-19 patients have recovered completely, putting Malaysia’s recovery rate at 78.47 per cent.

Over the 24 hours up to noon yesterday, 40 new cases were reported, bringing the country’s total number of cases to 6,819. Thirty-one of the new cases involved foreigners.

The number of active COVID-19 cases now stood at 1,356, with 16 patients in intensive care units and four of them requiring ventilators. One more death was reported yesterday, bringing the total number of fatalities to 112.

The enforcement of the MCO and CMCO has had a positive impact on keeping COVID-19 infections well under control in Malaysia.

Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has said that even though the cumulative cases are increasing, the fatality rate is slowing down while the number active cases is showing a downward trend due to the fewer number of new cases reported daily.

The MCO was enforced in four phases from March 18 to May 12, while the CMCO, which was imposed on May 4, will continue until June 9.

Among the early public health measures taken by the government to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus include imposing tighter controls at the nation’s entry and exits points, conducting active case detection and using the targeted approach to screen groups of people identified as high risk.

On Wednesday (May 13), Dr Noor Hisham said the measures taken to date have succeeded in flattening the curve in terms of new COVID-19 infections.

In his Facebook posting yesterday, he said the government’s integrated efforts throughout the MCO and first 10 days of CMCO have enabled the R naught of COVID-19 to be brought down to 0.3 from 3.5 earlier, which showed that Malaysia has succeeded in curtailing the spread of the disease.

R-naught refers to the contagiousness of an infectious disease and in the fight against COVID-19, the goal is to sustain an R naught of below one.

According to Dr Noor Hisham, it is now up to Malaysians to comply with the standard operating procedures (SOPs) and advice given by the Ministry of Health to further reduce the R naught value and number of new COVID-19 cases.

“If the people are careless about fulfilling their social responsibility in the fight against COVID-19, the R naught value may rise again, leading to a sudden hike in cases and a new wave of infections,” he warned.

Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaacob has also reminded the people that the “freedom” they are enjoying now under CMCO will be withdrawn if there is any spike in COVID-19 cases.

During his daily media briefing yesterday, he said most business sectors have now been allowed to resume operations but on the premise that they comply with the SOPs set by the government.

Referring to nations such as South Korea and China which were forced to re-impose restrictions due to the resurgence of COVID-19 cases, the senior minister said current conditions in Malaysia may change too if data shows an exponential surge in cases.

“(If this happens) maybe the CMCO can’t be continued and the MCO will be re-imposed,” he said, adding that even Saudi Arabia has instituted a lockdown during Hari Raya for five days from May 23 to 27.