Yesterday, there were 104 people who were “brought in dead”, meaning those who died outside hospitals. The number beat the previous record of 101 reported on Aug 15.
It was also a week (Aug 29 – Sept 4) in which fatalities breached the 16,000 mark on Sunday, only for the number to surpass 17,000 four days later on Sept 2.
If there was to be any respite for Khairy it would be that a new record was set for the greatest number of recoveries during a week in which the number of those discharged from hospital outpaced new infections.
There were 23,473 recoveries reported on Sept 2, beating the previous record of 22,657 on Aug 26. The past week, with the exception of Aug 31, recorded more than 20,000 recoveries each day.
However, the number of those in intensive care breached the 1,000 mark for five consecutive days since Sunday – a grim fact made bleaker by health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah’s comment that the occupancy rate for hospital beds in the intensive care units had reached 90%.
Almost all of the 1,608 ICU beds nationwide were treating Covid-19 patients.
Workplace clusters continue to make up the bulk of the clusters reported the past week, which came to an average of close to 30 a day.
A brief look at the major headlines on Covid-19 over the past week:
Khairy’s 100-day goals
Reducing the number of BIDs , easing the pressure on intensive care units, and addressing the backlog of elective non-Covid-19 surgeries are among the priorities for health minister Khairy Jamaluddin over the next 100 days.
He also aims to ensure that 80% of the adult population are fully vaccinated while also rolling out vaccines for teenagers aged 12 to 17, starting in Sarawak.
Sabah marks record high Covid-19 deaths at 55
The East Malaysian state registered a record high of 55 Covid-19 deaths in the last 24 hours, less than a week after the previous record of 41 deaths registered on Aug 27.
Of the 55 deaths, 29 were brought-in-dead cases, which included 11 foreigners, also a record high for the state.
Singapore to give vaccine boosters as cases rise
The island republic will start giving vaccine booster shots to the elderly and those with weak immune systems as cases rise despite high inoculation rates.
It joins a number of countries worldwide in giving a third jab to the most vulnerable groups, as it faces a new outbreak driven by the Delta variant.
Over 200 Delta variant cases detected in 2 weeks
A total of 265 cases involving the highly infectious Covid-19 Delta variant have been detected in the past two weeks, says Noor Hisham. It was reported that the Delta variant is now the dominant variant in Sarawak which is seeing a rise in cases.
We have enough vaccines says DG
Public hospitals throughout the country are still getting their supply of Covid-19 medicines despite a drastic increase in demand and disruption in supplies from manufacturers, Noor Hisham said.
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