OUR WAY OUT?
Klang Valley folk expected to get their second dose by Aug 31
STEPPING up the pace of Covid-19 vaccination is the antidote to the climb in cases and their severity, an approach proven to work in Labuan, says the Health D-G. To push up dose numbers, those aged 60 and above in the Klang Valley can now walk in for their jabs.
EVERYONE in the Klang Valley will get at least the first Covid-19 vaccine dose by Aug 1, said Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah yesterday.
The second dose is expected be administered by Aug 31.
Dr Noor Hisham said an additional five million doses of vaccines would be administered in the Klang Valley soon. This is to ensure people are vaccinated with at least their first dose by Aug 1, he said.
With the increase in the number of people being vaccinated, the number of patients being admitted to hospitals for Covid-19 would decrease, he said at a press conference with Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba and deputy director-general (public health) Datuk Dr Chong Chee Kheong.
He said the Delta variant of the Covid-19 virus was at least two times more transmissible, being able to infect the next person within 15 seconds.
The normal Covid-19 virus has an infectivity rate or R-naught (Rt) of between 2.5 and 3. The Delta variant has an Rt of between 5 and 8.
“This means that for every 100 people infected, it could spread to 500 to 800 others.
“In the past, positive cases happened if someone came into close contact with an infected person for 15 minutes or less than onemetre apart.
“With the Delta variant, infections can happen within 15 seconds, and the infection is now airborne.”
He added that the Delta variant’s high transmissibility required everyone to wear face masks, maintain physical distancing and avoid crowded and confined places.
“Vaccination is one way to curb the spread in the community, as seen in Labuan, where the Delta variant was detected through genomic surveillance.”
He said the infectivity rate in Labuan was very high, with the highest number at 1,340 cases per week.
“For two weeks, we conducted public health measures and ramped up vaccinations.
“Now, 52 per cent of the people in Labuan have received their second dose, and 87 per cent have been vaccinated with their first dose.
“With this, we have managed to control and lower the number of cases in less than three weeks.”
He said the ministry forecast that cases would see a decline by the end of November if the country administered at least 100,000 second vaccination doses per day, and if the Rt remained at 1.2.
Cases would see a decline by October if at least 150,000 second vaccination doses were administered per day, he said.
Malaysia’s Rt up to Wednesday stood at 1.19, with Terengganu recording the highest at 1.40, he said.
“Malaysia’s Rt is almost at 1.2, which is near the red zone.
“After our highest daily number on May 29, we decided to implement the Movement Control Order in June. Without it, we would have reached 13,000 cases on June 14.”
Dr Chong, who heads the Greater Klang Valley Task Force as its Unified Command Centre commander in Selangor, said the Health Ministry would set up virtual Covid-19 Assessment Centres (CAC) soon to manage Category 1 (no symptoms) and Category 2 (minor symptoms) cases.
“The monitoring will be done virtually without the need for patients to be at CACs.
“The home surveillance order will be given via the MySejahtera application or other applications, and this is lawful.”
He said up to 40 per cent of Covid-19 patients admitted to hospitals in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor were in Category 3 (those who present lung infections) and Category 4 (those who need oxygen).
On new infections, Dr Noor Hisham said Malaysia had hit an all-time high of 13,215 infections yesterday, raising the tally to 880,782.
Selangor accounted for the largest number of infections at 6,120, followed by Negri Sembilan with 1,603 and Kuala Lumpur with 1,499.
On Tuesday the country’s cases stood at 11,079, and on Wednesday at 11,618.
Dr Noor Hisham said there were 108,369 active cases, with 885 patients being warded in the intensive care unit and 432 of them on ventilators.
“Our data shows that 96 per cent of the cases are in Category 1 or Category 2. There are 8,047 people in Category 1, and 4,637 patients in Category 2.
“There are 531 cases under Category 3, Category 4 and Category Five (requiring ventilator assistance), which make up four per cent of total cases.”