KLANG VALLEY, NEGRI RECORD THE MOST INFECTIONS
425 cases in Selangor, KL, Putrajaya and Negri
THE total number of new Covid-19 cases in the Klang Valley and Negri Sembilan yesterday surpassed that of Sabah, raising fresh concerns over the pandemic situation in the states.
Of the nationwide total of 972 cases, the Klang Valley and Negri Sembilan recorded a combined total of 425. Of that number, 260 were from Negri Sembilan, 138 from Selangor, 22 from Kuala Lumpur and five from Putrajaya.
Sabah, in comparison, registered 370 new cases.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, who announced this yesterday, said Negri Sembilan alone had 10 active clusters, which contributed to the rise in numbers.
“A total of 165 cases were recorded in the Klang Valley.
“Meanwhile, 14 cases involved clusters in temporary detention centres and prisons. These include the PTS Tawau cluster (six cases), Sandakan Prison cluster (four), and Kepayan Prison cluster (four),” he said at a press conference here.
Of the new cases, Dr Noor Hisham said five were imported, while 967 were local transmissions.
The Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre also reported eight Covid-19 fatalities, raising the death toll to 294.
“A total of 86 cases are in Intensive Care Units, with 31 requir
ing ventilator support,” said Dr Noor Hisham.
He also announced the highest number of recoveries in the country to date at 1,345, bringing the total recoveries to 29,579.
He said six new Covid-19 clusters were detected, with the majority hailing from Sabah.
He said they were the Nabaha and Numbak clusters in Sabah (27 cases), Perigi cluster in Selangor (one), Seri Terapi cluster in Kuala Lumpur (one), Padang cluster in Johor (five) and Harmoni cluster in Putrajaya (five).
Dr Noor Hisham said the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) enforced nationwide except in Perlis, Pahang and Kelantan was the best strategy to lower the R-naught (R0) value without disrupting the economy.
Reducing the R0, he said, was crucial to stem the tide of Covid19 infections.
“R-naught (R0) is the infectivity rate. For example, if the R0 value is 2, this means another 2,000 people will be infected with the virus in the next cycle.
“At the beginning of the third wave, our R0 stood at 2.2. The CMCO in Sabah, Selangor, Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur managed to bring down the R0 from 2.2 to 1.5, and it is currently less than 1 (between 0.95 to 0.96).
“However, we need to increase our ground-level activity, including public health interventions and taking all precautionary measures, such as surveillance, to further bring the R0 value down.
“We hope to bring it down to 0.6 or 0.5. That means, if we have 1,000 people infected now, only 500 people will be infected in the next cycle and the numbers can be subsequently lowered down.”
He said although the country saw spikes in Covid-19 cases lately, the high number of new cases did not necessarily reflect the R0 value.
“We saw spikes on Oct 24 and Oct 26 and this almost skewed the forecast that we have. But this was because we increased screenings in prisons, especially from the Kepayan cluster.
“On Nov 6, we recorded the country’s highest daily Covid-19 cases (1,755) and almost reached an R0 value of 1.5.
“But if this is true, that the R0 is 1.5, then we should be seeing spikes along the same trajectory every day.
“So it was only one spike, and it was because we were doing screenings at Sandakan Prison and Temporary Detention Centre. The following day, the cases fell back to below 1,000. That actually shows that the CMCO is working.
“The CMCO implementation in Selangor was met with many objections at the beginning. But we said that it had to be done because the R0 value was high and the state also has a high population density.
“Currently, we have six districts that are classified as red zones in Selangor.
“Two more districts will likely become red zones soon,” he said, adding that the ministry’s advice to implement the CMCO in Selangor proved to be timely.