KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia's Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has reminded the public not to treat Covid-19 as a "normal flu" when going about their daily lives, as the nation battles the Omicron wave.
"Every death is serious," said Mr Khairy on Sunday (Feb 27) in a post on microblogging site Twitter. "It is less severe now, but it's not a mild flu. We must continue to focus on protecting our high-risk groups."
Malaysia has been logging daily cases in the five-figure range since Feb 6 due to the Omicron variant.
While the variant is less severe than previous ones, it is 4.2 times more transmissible than the Delta strain.
Last Thursday, Malaysia logged 31,199 cases - the highest since the start of the pandemic, triggering panic buying of Covid-19 home test kits, with several pharmacies claiming that there is a shortage in the country.
However, the figures are starting to fall, with 27,299 new Covid-19 cases reported on Sunday, a drop of 3,345 new cases from the day before.
Of Sunday's figures, 56 people died of the deadly disease, with 13 of them dying before arriving at hospitals for treatment.
Mr Khairy also reminded Malaysians to get their booster shots as the government pushes for a high booster-dose coverage.
"Covid-19 mortality hits older people and those with underlying health conditions the most. They really need to get their booster dose," he said in a separate Twitter post on Saturday.
As Malaysia slowly transitions towards endemicity, about 82.4 per cent of its 32 million population have received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine and 78.8 per cent have received two doses, while 44.5 per cent have had their booster shots.
More than 805,000 children, or 23 per cent of children aged between five and 11, have received their first dose.
The government has also reopened a Quarantine and Treatment Centre located at Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang as a preventive measure. There are 100 beds at the facility, which will be increased to 850 beds if needed.
To date, hospital bed occupancy stands at 67.9 per cent nationwide, including for non-Covid-19 cases.
But Covid-19 cases in intensive care units (ICUs) in five areas have reached or have exceeded 50 per cent capacity. They are Kelantan state (94 per cent), Melaka state (71 per cent), Johor state (67 per cent), Kuala Lumpur (58 per cent) and Putrajaya (50 per cent).
Meanwhile, 12 areas have breached 50 per cent usage of non-ICU beds for Covid-19 patients, including Kelantan (113 per cent), Selangor (104 per cent), Putrajaya (99 per cent), Kuala Lumpur (90 per cent), Perak (88 per cent and Pahang (71 per cent).
