Malaysia has been re-imposing restriction and Movement Control Orders (MCOs) over the increase of Covid-19 infections since earlier this year. The number of Covid-19 cases that was declining since June was reversed after the Health Ministry’s latest estimation for the cases to increase in coming weeks.
The Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has shared in a Twitter post, stating that Malaysia’s average cases have currently deviated from the curve according to the current Susceptible-Exposed-Infectious-Removed (SEIR) calculation.
Kadar kebolehjangkitan Covid-19 atau Ro/Rt pada jangkaan mengikut kes seharian pada 30 hb Jun 2021 untuk seluruh negara adalah 1.05. Manakala pecahan mengikut negeri adalah seperti di lampiran. pic.twitter.com/L0Sdxd2Qd0
— Noor Hisham Abdullah (@DGHisham) June 30, 2021
Dr Noor Hisham also reported that Malaysia must achieve the current reproduction number (Rt) below 1.0 in order for Covid-19 cases to be subdued. Malaysia reported 6,988 new cases on Thursday, 1st July 2021.
Malaysia is not the only country experiencing the rise of new Covid-19 cases daily. Several other countries across the globe were also facing similar circumstances that could have been mainly attributed to the current dominant variant of SARS-COV-2, the Delta variant.
The Delta variant that was first identified and believed to have originated from India is 40% to 60% more infectious than the UK variant or the Alpha variant. The Delta variant is noted to be “faster, fitter and will pick off the more vulnerable more efficiently than previous variants,” said the World health Organization (WHO) executive director Mike Ryan.
Although it was unclear whether the rise of cases in Malaysia was also due to the Delta variant, Dr Noor Hisham has stated on Twitter that the first dose of vaccination can only provide certain protection and defence against the increased contagious variant.
“One dose of Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccine only provides around 33 per cent protection against symptoms from the Delta variant, two doses provide 88 per cent (Pfizer) and 60 per cent (AstraZeneca) protection against symptoms,” he said.
One dose of Pfizer or Astra Zeneca vaccine only provides around 33 per cent protection against symptoms from Delta variant, two doses provide between 88 per cent (Pfizer) and 60 per cent (AstraZeneca) protection against symptoms.
— Noor Hisham Abdullah (@DGHisham) June 29, 2021
Public health experts all in all agree that getting complete doses of vaccination is needed and provides the best protection against any type of the virus. This begs the following questions – Do we need a third dose of vaccine? How effective is Sinovac against the Delta variant?
Sources: MalayMail, The Irish Times, The New York Times
