KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 18): Malaysia recorded 162,793 Covid-19 infections in the week of Feb 11 to 17, an 85.75% increase from 87,642 in the previous week (Feb 4 to 10) as the Omicron variant rages. The weekly figure is a new record high since Covid-19 hit the country in early January 2020.

The number of daily Covid-19 cases remained above the 20,000 mark for the fourth consecutive day. It hit a fresh all-time high of 27,831 on Wednesday (Feb 16), surpassing the previous record of 24,599 cases reported on Aug 26, 2021.

Of the new infections during the Feb 11 to 17 period, 99.54% or 162,037 patients had little to no symptoms (categories one and two), while 756 patients (0.46%) were diagnosed with severe cases (categories three, four and five).

On Thursday (Feb 17), Malaysia announced that it will stop releasing daily Covid-19 numbers separately every afternoon,  effective from Friday (Feb 18), to reduce the fear factor about the jump in infections. The daily figure will instead be provided along with other data such as hospital occupancy rates, utilisation of intensive care, daily deaths and the breakdown of Covid 19 patients by category.

“We should look at it [daily cases] along with other metrics to get a clearer picture of the real situation, instead of looking at 20,000 or 30,000 cases every day,” Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin told a press conference.

To date, the total number of confirmed coronavirus infections in the country stands at 3,138,215. Meanwhile, 52,730 recoveries have been reported weekly — a 28.27% increase from last week's 41,110 — bringing the total number of recoveries to date to 2,888,194.

Due to the increase in Covid 19 cases, the number of active cases at high risk of transmission increased to 217,781 on Feb 17 — the highest level since Sept 19, 2021 (219,357 cases).

According to the Ministry of Health's COVIDNOW portal, 94.1% or 204,875 patients were under home quarantine. A total of 7,119 patients were admitted to hospitals, 5,571 patients were treated in Covid-19 Quarantine and Treatment Centres (PKRC), and another 216 were treated in intensive care units (ICUs).

As of Feb 17, the COVIDNOW portal showed that the average occupancy rate of hospital beds in the country was 68%.

Sadly, the number of weekly deaths due to Covid-19 (Feb 11 to 17) more than doubled to 165 — the second highest number of weekly deaths this year — compared to 75 the previous week.

Khairy said this week, there were also non-serious Covid-19 patients in categories one and two that were hospitalised as a preventive measure for surveillance and to prevent worsening of the risk of infection. "Considering this situation, hospitalisations of Covid-19 cases will definitely increase, in line with the increase in daily [Covid-19] cases."

In comparison, the previous record for weekly coronavirus cases in Malaysia was set during the week of Aug 22 to 28, 2021 (150,224). However, at that time, weekly deaths and ICU patients were high at 1,866 and 986 respectively, with only 61.1% of the country’s adult population having been vaccinated with two doses.

Not only that, the booster vaccination, which provides protection against Covid-19 infection especially from severe complications, began in early October 2021.

Khairy said that while the country has recently seen an increase in daily cases and hospitalisations, the vaccines have shown excellent effectiveness in protecting against more severe infections.

"That's why we have seen only a slight increase in the number of ICU admissions and deaths due to Covid-19 so far. The numbers of ICU admissions and deaths due to Covid-19 were 80% to 90% lower than in last August, although the current number of cases is higher," Khairy said at a press conference on Thursday.

In the Feb 11 to 17 period, a total of 784,511 booster doses were administered — up 3.43% from 758,518 doses the week before. The percentage of the adult population who had received their booster shots increased to 58.3% from 55.2%.

The cumulative figure of booster doses now stands at 13,728,147, according to COVIDNOW.

Meanwhile, 97.5% of the adult population or 22,941,779 individuals had completed their two-dose vaccination.

For children below 12 years old, 341,960 individuals, representing 9.6% of the group, had at least received their first dose of Covid-19 vaccine since the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme for Children (PICKKids) was launched on Feb 3 this year. Pfizer-BioNTech's Comirnaty 10mcg Concentrate for Dispersion has been approved for use for children between the ages of five and 11 in Malaysia.

There has been a 160% rise in the number of Covid-19 cases among children below 12 years old this year due to the spread of the Omicron variant.

"So far, we have seen that less than a million children have registered [for vaccination]. We hope that with the significant increase in cases in children, parents will come forward and get their children vaccinated. So far, we have found that this vaccination does not cause serious AEFI (adverse events following vaccination)," said Khairy.