COVID-19 Epidemiology for Malaysia- Epidemiological Week 23, 2021 (6-12th June 2021)

The overall situation

Malaysia walks into its second week of the FULL MOVEMENT CONTROL ORDER (FMCO) (1st June- 14th June 2021) in its battle against the Covid 19 pandemic. A total of 652,204 confirmed cases of COVID 19 have been reported as of 12th June 2021. The total number of death due to COVID 19 since last year stands at 3844. The number of new daily cases over the past week indicates a possible reducing trajectory. However, strict compliance to SOP and preventive measures must be continued to prevent a surge in Covid-19 cases.

New this week

The total number of positive Covid-19 cases for Epid week 23 is 41,630 cases, and the total number of deaths is 553. The highest, Week 23 COVID-19 cases observed was on the 11th June 2021 was 6849 cases and the lowest COVID-19 was on 7th June 2021 with a total of 5271 new cases. Only two states (Perlis and Sabah) reported 14-day incidence density below 100 cases per 100,000 population. Two states reported a Time-varying productive number (Rt) of more than 1 by the end of Epid Week 23- Sabah (1.12), followed by Wilayah Persekutuan Labuan (1.10).

Trends in reported cases, and hospitalization

The 7-day moving average of 6675 cases (6th June 2021) reduced to 5947 (12th June 2021). A reduction in the 7-day moving average is seen in week 23, corresponding to the decrease in the number of daily cases in most states during the second week of FMCO. In Malaysia, 7-day average positivity rate was 6.4% on 12 of June 2021, which was still above the recommended rate of less than 3% by WHO. However, the rate improved slightly compared to the 7-day average positivity rate on 5th June 2021, which was 7.2%.  

Only Perlis and Sabah reported a 14-day incidence density below 100 cases per 100000 population. At the end of week 23 the 14-day incidence rate were above 500 in Wilayah Persekutuan Labuan, Negeri Sembilan, and Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur.

Overall transmissibility was reduced in week 23 in most states compared to the previous Epid week. However, towards the end of the week, two states, Sabah (1.12) and WP Labuan (1.10), reported an Rt value above the epidemic threshold of 1. The overall Rt value shows a gradual decline from 0.98 in Epid Week 22 to 0.84 in Epid Week 23(a reduction of approximately 15%).

The impact and strain on the healthcare system are still evident as the general bed utilization at the end of week 23 stands at 234.4%. There is an increase in ICU utilization up to 53.8% and ventilator utilization up to 21.5% in week 23.

Mobility in workplaces has seen an increase in the current Epid week 23, and this may be due to the re-opening of certain industries and the economic sectors. A similar trend of workplace mobility is seen in all states in the country. 

The FMCO has been extended from 14th June 2021 to 28th June 2021. With the current number of COVID-19 cases in Malaysia, strict adherent to SOP is needed to flatten the curve.  Apart from the FMCO, the Federal and state-level authorities have focused on other possible measures to curb the pandemic in the country. Currently, effort to roll out the vaccination programme to the people aged 60 years old and above has been intensified. Private Healthcare providers, Mega Vaccination Centers, and mobile vaccinations centers have commenced the COVID 19 vaccination programme for the general public. Currently, there are 386 vaccine administration centers, and approximately 4,361,358 people have been vaccinated with either one or two doses of vaccine. A total of 1,331,262 (30.5%) of the people vaccinated have completed both doses of vaccine. The battle to flatten the pandemic curve continues; thus, the effort of every person in this fight is vital. Stay Home and Stay Safe.

Prepared by Dr. Navaresh Retnasingam, DrPH candidate from University of Malaya, and revised by Dr. Howie Lim Sin How, PhD.

The report is based on the information obtained from the COVID-19 Epidemiology for Malaysia dashboard.

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