Health minister Dzulkefly Ahmad said Malaysia’s recorded Covid-19 cases had risen by 14.8% to 1,230 cases in the week of May 12 to May 18. (Bernama pic)
PETALING JAYA: The health ministry has assured the public that the government is closely monitoring Singapore’s new wave of Covid-19 and is ready to handle any increase in diagnosed cases.
In a statement, health minister Dzulkefly Ahmad said Malaysia is currently unaffected by Singapore’s new surge in Covid-19 cases as the country has only recorded two cases of Singapore’s dominant variants (KP.2.1 and KP.1.1) since March this year.
“The most widespread variant in Malaysia is still Omicron and its sub-variants.
“One case of KP.2.1 and another case of KP.1.1 has been recorded since March this year. Both of these variants originated from the Omicron family, specifically from the sublineage of JN.1.11.1.
“The World Health Organization has listed KP.2 as a currently circulating variant under monitoring, but there’s no indication that it will cause more severe diseases than the other circulating variants,” he said.
Earlier, it was reported that Singapore’s government is closely tracking a new wave of Covid-19 infections in the island nation after the estimated count of weekly cases nearly doubled in the week ended May 11.
Singapore’s health ministry said the estimated number of Covid-19 cases nearly doubled to 25,900 in the week of May 5 to 11, compared with 13,700 in the prior period.
Separately, it was reported that KP.1 and KP.2 account for over two-thirds of cases in Singapore.
Dzulkefly also said Malaysia’s recorded Covid-19 cases had risen by 14.8% to 1,230 cases in the week of May 12 to May 18.
However, he said no deaths related to Covid-19 have been reported since April 25 this year.
“From May 12 to May 18, the total admission of Covid-19 patients to health facilities’ non-critical wards has gone up from 0.08% to 0.1%, but this development will not burden our healthcare system,” he added.
Dzulkefly also reminded the public to remain vigilant in preventing the spread of Covid-19 as the disease will “always live among us”.
“Always wash your hands with sanitiser and wear a face mask if you’re in a crowded area or at a high risk of being infected.
“For those who belong to the high-risk community, take an additional jab of a Covid-19 vaccine if your last dose of vaccine was taken more than 12 months ago,” he said.
I don’t think the title of your article matches the content lol. Just kidding, mainly because I had some doubts after reading the article.