COVID-19 Weekly Round-Up: Remarkable 78% Recovery Rate

By Melati Mohd Ariff This is a round-up of COVID-19 related matters in Malaysia and globally from May 9 up to 12.30 pm today. In Malaysia, case numbers have exceeded 6,800 and globally, the virus has infected more than four million people and caused over 290,000 deaths. More than 200 countries and territories are affected by the pandemic. KUALA LUMPUR, May 15 (Bernama) – Malaysia’s efforts to stem the spread of COVID-19 through the enforcement of the Movement Control Order for almost two months and now the conditional MCO (CMCO) have been producing impressive results. This week, the number of recovered cases continued to exceed daily new cases, which has maintained its two-digit trend. The lowest number of new cases (16) since the MCO was enforced was recorded on Tuesday (May 12). As of noon Thursday, a total of 5,351 COVID-19 patients have recovered completely, putting Malaysia’s recovery rate at 78.47 percent. Over the 24 hours up to noon yesterday, 40 new cases were reported, bringing the country’s total number of cases to 6,819. Thirty-one of the new cases involved foreigners. The number of active COVID-19 cases now stood at 1,356, with 16 patients in intensive care units and four of them requiring ventilators. One more death was reported yesterday, bringing the total number of fatalities to 112. MEASURES PROVE FRUITFUL The enforcement of the MCO and CMCO has had a positive impact on keeping COVID-19 infections well under control in Malaysia. Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has said that even though the cumulative cases are increasing, the fatality rate is slowing down while the number active cases is showing a downward trend due to the fewer number of new cases reported daily. The MCO was enforced in four phases from March 18 to May 12, while the CMCO, which was imposed on May 4, will continue until June 9. Among the early public health measures taken by the government to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus include imposing tighter controls at the nation’s entry and exits points, conducting active case detection and using the targeted approach to screen groups of people identified as high risk. On Wednesday (May 13), Dr Noor Hisham said the measures taken to date have succeeded in flattening the curve in terms of new COVID-19 infections. In his Facebook posting yesterday, he said the government’s integrated efforts throughout the MCO and first 10 days of CMCO have enabled the R naught of COVID-19 to be brought down to 0.3 from 3.5 earlier, which showed that Malaysia has succeeded in curtailing the spread of the disease. R-naught refers to the contagiousness of an infectious disease and in the fight against COVID-19, the goal is to sustain an R naught of below one. According to Dr Noor Hisham, it is now up to Malaysians to comply with the standard operating procedures (SOPs) and advice given by the Ministry of Health to further reduce the R naught value and number of new COVID-19 cases. “If the people are careless about fulfilling their social responsibility in the fight against COVID-19, the R naught value may rise again, leading to a sudden hike in cases and a new wave of infections,” he warned. FREEDOM MAY BE SHORT-LIVED Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Ismail Sabri Yaacob has also reminded the people that the “freedom” they are enjoying now under CMCO will be withdrawn if there is any spike in COVID-19 cases. During his daily media briefing yesterday, he said most business sectors have now been allowed to resume operations but on the premise that they comply with the SOPs set by the government. Referring to nations such as South Korea and China which were forced to re-impose restrictions due to the resurgence of COVID-19 cases, the senior minister said current conditions in Malaysia may change too if data shows an exponential surge in cases. “(If this happens) maybe the CMCO can’t be continued and the MCO will be re-imposed,” he said, adding that even Saudi Arabia has instituted a lockdown during Eid-ul Fitr for five days from May 23 to 27. WARNING BY WHO Wuhan in China and South Korea have reported a spike in new COVID-19 cases after their lockdowns were lifted and people went back to their normal lives. Wuhan in Hubei province where the COVID-19 outbreak was first reported, was placed on high alert after nearly 120 new cases were reported. The city authorities are set to screen its 11 million residents over a 10-day period. As of today, more than three million people have been screened. The city had lifted its lockdown on April 8 after enforcing it for 76 days. South Korea reported more than 100 new cases last week and the source of infection has been traced to nightclubs in the Itaewon district of Seoul. More than 8,000 policemen have been deployed to trace about 11,000 people who were said to have patronised the nightclubs. On Wednesday, meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) issued a grim outlook on COVID-19, saying that the virus “may never go away”. Although currently there are over 100 potential vaccines under development, experts have said that any vaccine that is developed has to be a highly effective one. WHO emergencies director Mike Ryan said the COVID-19 coronavirus may become another endemic virus such as HIV and communities have to learn to live with it. GLOBAL SCENARIO According to CoronaTracker (which cites figures from various agencies including WHO), total COVID-19 cases worldwide stood at 4,526,934 and 303,407 deaths at the time of writing this article. The number of people who have recovered from the disease stood at 1,705,678. The United States continues to head the list of countries with the highest number of COVID-19 cases. It has reported 1,457,593 cases and a death toll of 86,912. Spain is at number two position with 272,646 cases and 27,321 deaths, followed by Russia with 252,245 cases and 2,305 fatalities and the United Kingdom with 233,151 cases and 33,614 deaths. China is at the 11th spot with 82,933 cases and 4,633 fatalities. The COVID-19 situation in Malaysia’s neighbouring countries is as follows: Singapore leads with the highest number of cases at 26,098 and 21 deaths. Most of its new cases involve work permit holders residing at workers’ hostels. Indonesia comes next with 16,006 cases (1,043 deaths), Philippines 11,876 (790 deaths), Thailand 3,018 (56 deaths), Vietnam 312 (0 death), Myanmar 181 (six deaths), Brunei 141 (one death), Cambodia 122 (0 death) and Laos 19 (0 death). Globally, nations that have reported substantial numbers of COVID-19 cases include: Italy 223,096 cases (31,368 deaths), Brazil 203,165 (13,999 deaths), France 178,870 (27,425) deaths, Germany 174,975 (7,928 deaths), Turkey 144,749 (4,007 deaths), Iran 114,533 (6,854 deaths), India 82,052 (2,649 deaths), Peru 80,604 (2,267 deaths), Canada 73,401 (5,472 deaths), Belgium 54,288 (8,903 deaths), Saudi Arabia 46,869 (368 deaths), Mexico 42,595 (4,477 deaths), Pakistan 37,218 (803 deaths), Chile 37,040 (346 deaths), Equador 30,502 (2,338 deaths) and Switzerland 30,463 (1,872 deaths). COVID-19 BACKGROUND According to the WHO website, its China country office was informed of cases of pneumonia that were detected in Wuhan on Dec 31, 2019. On Jan 7, the Chinese authorities confirmed that the novel coronavirus can be transmitted from human to human. Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that cause illnesses ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-COV). A study of the virus’ genetic sequence suggested similarities to that seen in snakes and bats. China health officials identified the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan as the source of the transmission of the coronavirus. On Feb 11, WHO announced the official name of the virus, COVID-19, which is an acronym for coronavirus 2019 – CO stands for corona, VI for virus and D for disease. On Jan 30, WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak as a global emergency. By then, it had spread to 18 countries and caused 170 deaths. On March 11, COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by WHO. WHO has described the COVID-19 outbreak as 10 times more dangerous than the A H1N1 Influenza, also known as Swine Flu. Swine Flu, which occurred between January 2009 and August 2010, infected more than 1.6 million people and caused 18,449 fatalities. The International Monetary Fund has warned that the global economic recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic will be worse than the Great Depression of the 1930s. Translated by Rema Nambiar --BERNAMA