Covid-19: The week that was

 

PETALING JAYA: The past week has seen back-to-back record high Covid-19 figures, leading the government to impose stricter measures amid rumours of a total lockdown nationwide.

Numbers reached an all time high as daily cases breached the 6,000 mark four days in a row, with over half a million people infected with the virus since the start of the pandemic.

Malaysia also recorded 333 deaths. As of yesterday, the death toll stood at 2,199.

There were also 38,785 new cases against 26,905 recoveries. A total of 53,682 people are still being treated.

Since May 16, a total of 125 new Covid-19 clusters had also been detected.

Over the week, the infection rate has gone up. It stood at 1.05 and ended at 1.17.

As of May 21, a total of 1.42 million people have received at least one vaccine dose, up from 1.19 million at the start of the week.

Covid-19 making the headlines

FMT now takes a brief look at the major headline news on Covid-19 over the past week.

No total lockdown, but stricter SOPs for MCO3.0

As Selangor continued to record the highest number of cases in the country, health minister Dr Adham Baba said that the government would consider a full-scale movement control order (MCO) in the state if it failed to curb Covid-19.

Following this, senior minister for security Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced tighter movement restrictions for the peninsula and Labuan, saying that the government had decided against a total lockdown in order to maintain people’s livelihoods.

‘Bogus’ donor offers 2mil vaccines to Penang

In a series of back and forth between the federal and Penang governments, chief minister Chow Kon Yeow and former finance minister Lim Guan Eng claimed that the health ministry had blocked the state from receiving an offer of two million doses of Covid-19 vaccines from an employee of a Hong Kong-based private company.

However, vaccine coordinating minister Khairy Jamaluddin called the offer a “scam” and “bogus”, as the government had failed to find any evidence of the donor “Yong Chee Kong” nor the purported company’s existence.

This prompted Yong to come forward and clarify that the offer was genuine, saying his employer had told him to write to the Penang government after their offer to the Sabah government was rejected by the health ministry last January.

Moving forward, Chow has pledged to set aside political differences during the national vaccination programme. He has also written to Khairy to allow the state to buy vaccines using its own funds

Second round of AZ vaccinations for over-60s

Having received a total of 828,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines, the government decided to prioritise those aged 60 and above for the second batch of vaccines in the country. The opt-in rollout has also been expanded to include the elderly in Johor, Sarawak and Penang. Registrations via www.vaksincovid.gov.my will open at noon today.

New wave of infections, lockdowns in SouthEast Asia

Along with Malaysia, several countries in SouthEast Asia have moved back to stricter measures.

Vietnam and Taiwan have both recorded new daily records within the week, while Singapore has shut its schools, following a rise in cases linked to the Indian variant, particularly among children.

‘Black fungus’ surges among patients in India

Thousands of Covid-19 patients in India have contracted mucormycosis or “black fungus”, a fungal infection with an average fatality rate of 54%, according to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The high use of steroids to combat Covid-19 is expected to have aggravated black fungus. At least nine Indian states have declared the infection an epidemic, with a Hindustan Times report saying at least 219 people have died so far.

EU set to open its doors to vaccinated foreigners

On May 19, ambassadors from 27 European Union countries agreed to ease travel restrictions and reopen borders for fully vaccinated visitors, ahead of the summer tourist season.

An updated list of “safe” countries is expected to be set in the coming weeks. So far, there are only seven nations on the list, including Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. - FMT

✍ Credit given to the original owner of this post : ☕ Malaysians Must Know the TRUTH

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