Reported Covid-19 deaths hit record high of 2,869 in Sept 10-16 week; only 746 were ‘actual deaths’

KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 18): Malaysia’s reported Covid-19-linked fatalities climbed 25% to a record high of 2,869 in the week of Sept 10 to 16, compared with 2,295 in the previous week.

This came as daily reported deaths jumped to an-all time high of 592 last Saturday (Sept 11). Reported daily deaths then stayed above 400-mark for three consecutive day from Sept 13 to 15.

Of the 2,869 weekly deaths, 777 or 27.08% were brought-in-dead (BID) cases, according to Ministry of Health (MoH) data. Since the coronavirus struck the country last year, total reported Covid-19-related deaths was at 22,355, while the cumulative number of BID cases stood at 4,263.

746 ‘actual deaths’ reported

The MoH also noted “actual deaths” during the Sept 10-16 period totalled 746 (down 45.74% from the previous week’s 1,375 deaths), while the rest were backlog cases from previous data.

Johor, where 47.5% of the state’s population was fully inoculated, had the highest number of “actual deaths” at 152.

It was followed by Penang (119 deaths; 55.7% of population fully vaccinated) and Sabah (111 deaths; 37.4% of population fully vaccinated).

Selangor had 72 deaths, Perak (65), Kedah (40), Kelantan (37), Sarawak (37), Kuala Lumpur (24), Melaka (23), Pahang (22), Terengganu (20), Negeri Sembilan (15), and Perlis (nine).

As for “actual BID cases”, the total number for the Sept 10-16 week was at 140, versus 314 cases in the previous week.

The MoH is now using different methods to improve its Covid-19 death reporting due to discrepancies over the reporting of backlog cases. It is now releasing more detailed data on its CovidNow website and a cloud-based repository hosting service provider dubbed MoH Github.

The ministry has decided to be more transparent on the reported deaths and actual deaths for overall and BID cases.

It said the backlog deaths data was due to the human resource system whereby in July and August, frontliners especially in the Klang Valley were overwhelmed and this caused some delays in investigations.

Active cases drop 6.46% to 227,120

Active cases which carry high transmission risks dropped to 227,120 on Thursday, from 242,802 a week earlier.

Of this, 189,657 people were undergoing home quarantine, 24,296 patients were being treated in Covid-19 Quarantine and Low-Risk Treatment Centres (PKRC), 11,933 individuals were hospitalised and another 1,234 were placed in intensive care units (ventilated and unventilated).

A total of 144,286 Covid-19 recoveries were detected from Sept 11 till Sept 17, the third straight week of outpacing infections. In comparison, 126,377 Covid-19 cases were identified during the week.

The country’s cumulative recoveries stood at 1.82 million, versus 2.07 total infections.

Weekly Covid-19 vaccine doses fall for fourth straight week

Malaysia administered a total of 1.7 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines from last Thursday till yesterday — the fourth consecutive week of decline in the doses given out — with over 200,000 daily doses delivered.

In contrast, 2.19 million vaccine doses were given in the previous week, and 2.37 million vaccine doses in the week before that.

To date, 21.78 million people across Malaysia or 66.7% of the nation’s population had received their first dose, including 17.97 million people or 55% who were fully inoculated.

The Klang Valley, comprising Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, had the highest vaccination rate in terms of total population fully vaccinated at 76.9%, followed by Labuan (67.2%), Negeri Sembilan (65.7%) and Sarawak (64.5%).

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