Health DG: Beware of pandemic fatigue

PUTRAJAYA: As the number of Covid-19 infections continues to rise globally, Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has cautioned Malaysians against pandemic fatigue.

The Health director-general noted that in Malaysia alone, Covid-19 cases had surged in the past month, as 61,984 infections and 235 deaths were registered in April alone.

“The country’s hospital capacity is also struggling, with many Klang Valley hospitals reporting more than 70% utilisation rate of intensive care unit (ICU) beds.

“Up to May 3, the number of Covid-19 cases in the world has reached 152 million, while deaths have reached 3.2 million.

“This recent spike in Covid-19 cases is caused by pandemic fatigue, among others.

“Members of the public suffering from the fatigue become complacent when it comes to adhering to public health measures.

“Other than that, rules have become relaxed, economic sectors have reopened, mass gatherings are held. These contribute towards the surge in cases everywhere.

“The emergence of new mutations of the Covid-19 virus is adding to the worrying situation,” Dr Noor Hisham said in his daily Covid-19 press statement.

He called on the Malaysian public to “play their roles” and take on the responsibility of helping the country to curb the transmission of Covid-19.

“In facing this test, we all need to unite and stop pointing fingers and avoid playing the blame game,” he said.

Yesterday, Malaysia recorded 2,500 new cases – taking the cumulative total to 417,512.

Selangor’s 637 new cases – about 25.5% of Malaysia’s total – is the highest out of all states.

“Of Selangor’s new cases, 84.9% are those uncovered from clusters or contact tracing activities,” said Dr Noor Hisham.

The rest (96 cases) are sporadic and detected from various Covid-19 screening activities.

Out of the 2,500 new cases, four are imported infections.

There were 2,068 patients who were discharged, while active cases went up to 30,753.

Another 18 deaths due to Covid19 were reported, with the casualties aged between 29 and 87.

The number of patients currently treated in ICUs has gone up to 352. Those requiring ventilator support have also increased to 186.

The Health Ministry also detected nine new clusters, taking the number of active ones to 398.

Of the new clusters, three were community outbreaks, three were linked to workplaces and two were related to the education sector.

One new cluster is an outbreak detected at a detention centre in Jelapang, Perak, where 40 confirmed cases were found.