Covid-19: Cases decreased 15.7% in epidemiological week 23, says Health Minister

PUTRAJAYA: The number of Covid-19 cases decreased by 15.7% in the 23rd epidemiological week (EW 23/2023) from June 4 to June 10 to 3,814 cases compared with 4,523 cases reported in the previous week.

Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa (pic) said the admission rate of Covid-19 patients into public health facilities including those suspected of contracting the disease decreased from 4.4 to 3.8 per 100,000 of the population in EW 23/2023 compared with EW 22/2023 (May 28 to June 3).

She said the intensive care unit (ICU) bed occupancy rate also decreased by 3% in EW 23/2023, while the percentage of non-critical Covid-19 bed occupancy decreased by 1%.

"In EW 23/2023, a total of 87 new Omicron variants were reported, comprising 75 cases of variants of concern (VOC) and 12 cases of variants of interest (VOI)," she said in a statement today (June 16).

To date, she said the cumulative number of cases of the variant XBB.1.16 (Arcturus) and sublineages was 55 cases, all of which were local transmissions.

Dr Zaliha said 16 of the cases were reported in Melaka, 12 in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur (seven), Sarawak (six), Johor (four), Putrajaya (three), Perak, Negri Sembilan, and Sabah (two cases each) and Perlis (one).

She said as of EW 22/2023, surveillance of influenza-like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) for Covid-19 at sentinel locations across the country found that 114 ILI samples were detected as positive for Covid-19 with a positive rate of 13.44%, while 9.26% of SARI samples were detected positive for Covid-19.

Dr Zaliha said that based on data up to June 10, only 50% or 16,337,334 Malaysians had received the first booster dose and only 2.5% or 824,677 had received the second booster dose.

On the hot spell in Malaysia, Dr Zaliha said based on monitoring by the Malaysian Meteorological Department (MetMalaysia) on June 12, 2023, only Bau in Sarawak was reported to be at alert level 1 (caution).

"No area is reported to be at alert level 2 (heatwave)," she said.

The cumulative number of cases of heat-related diseases from EW 16/2023 to EW 23/2023 was 39, she said, adding that they comprised 23 cases of heat exhaustion, 11 cases of convulsions, and five cases of heat stroke.

According to Dr Zaliha, 25 of the cases involved adults, teenagers (nine), children (three) and the elderly (two) will all those who received treatment reported stable and discharged.

Dr Zaliha said no new cases of death due to heat stroke were reported in EW 23/2023, which meant that only one such case had been reported so far this year, namely on April 25.

She also advised the public to limit their time outside during hot spell and reduce strenuous physical activity, apart from drinking water frequently to ensure adequate hydration.

"If you are not feeling well, seek immediate treatment at a nearby health facility," she added. - Bernama