KUALA LUMPUR April 9 — The Kuantan district in Pahang is now a red zone or a Covid-19 hotspot where at least 41 cases have been recorded, while the Lembah Pantai district in Kuala Lumpur continued its run uninterrupted as Malaysia's top Covid-19 red zone for the sixth consecutive day, the latest data released today by the Health Ministry shows.
With the addition of Kuantan, there are now 24 districts in Malaysia that are red zones or in the most severe category for Covid-19 cases, as of April 8 noon.
The new red zone
The Kuantan district, which had 40 cases on April 7, was then an orange zone as it was in the category of districts with 20 to 40 Covid-19 cases recorded.
An orange zone can easily tip over to be recategorised as a red zone, such as in the case of the Kuantan district which crossed the 41-case threshold when its total tally of Covid-19 cases increased to 43 on April 8.
Top red zone is in KL, not Selangor
While Selangor is the first state in Malaysia to cross the 1,000th mark in terms of Covid-19 cases recorded and currently has the highest number of cases among all the states and federal territories at 1,078 cases, this state is not the one with the top red zone in the country.
The top red zone in the country is instead in Kuala Lumpur, the second most affected — after Selangor — with 685 cases as of April 8.
Again topping the country as the district with the highest number of cases — for the sixth day running — is the Lembah Pantai district in Kuala Lumpur, with 417 cases as of April 8. (The two red zones following closely behind are however districts in Selangor — Hulu Langat (361) and Petaling (318)).
The Lembah Pantai district's total cumulative tally had steadily increased over the past five days as the nationwide top spot at 322 cases (April 3), 367 cases (April 4), 376 cases (April 5), 386 cases (April 6), and 412 cases as of April 7.
A closer look at Lembah Pantai and KL
It can be easy to confuse the Lembah Pantai district in Kuala Lumpur with the Lembah Pantai parliamentary constituency.
However, while Kuala Lumpur has 11 parliamentary constituencies, this federal territory is actually split into four districts — under the Department of Health Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya (JKWPKL dan Putrajaya) — which are Lembah Pantai, Kepong, Titiwangsa and Cheras.
In the department's map that breaks down the number of Covid-19 cases recorded according to the parliamentary constituencies in Kuala Lumpur, the Lembah Pantai district is shown to cover the three parliamentary constituencies of Lembah Pantai, Seputeh and Bukit Bintang, while the Kepong district covers another three parliamentary constituencies — Segambut, Batu and Kepong.
The district of Cheras covers both the Cheras and Bandar Tun Razak constituencies, while the district of Titiwangsa covers the constituencies of Titiwangsa, Wangsa Maju and Setiawangsa.
So as of April 8, the biggest contributor of Covid-19 cases in the Lembah Pantai district is actually Seputeh (321 cases), followed by Bukit Bintang (63) and Lembah Pantai (33), while the Covid-19 cases in Kepong district are mostly located in Segambut (62), then Batu (33) and Kepong (12).
The Cheras district's tally of cases is mainly in Bandar Tun Razak (40) followed by Cheras (24), while the Titiwangsa district's cases are led by Titiwangsa (41), followed by Wangsa Maju (32) and Setiawangsa (24).
Red zones according to KL's parliamentary constituencies
Using the same definition of red zones having at least 41 cases, currently four out of the 11 parliamentary constituencies in Kuala Lumpur are red zones: Seputeh (321), Bukit Bintang (63), Segambut (62) and Titiwangsa (41).
The rest are orange zones with the exception of the Kepong parliamentary constituency which is a yellow zone with only 12 cases recorded so far.
How much do Malaysia's 24 red zones contribute?
As of April 8 noon, Malaysia breached the 4,000th mark when it recorded 4,119 cases.
The number of cases in the 24 red zones nationwide comes up to a total of 3,022 cases, which in other words amounts to 73 per cent of all the cases recorded in the entire country.
Individually, the number of cases in the 24 red zones or 24 districts with at least 41 cases are as follows: Lembah Pantai (417), Hulu Langat (361), Petaling (318), Kuching (192), Seremban (180), Kluang (175), Johor Bahru (158), Klang (134), Gombak (117), Kepong (107), Titiwangsa (97), Kinta (94), Kota Bahru (85), Tawau (67), Hilir Perak (66), Cheras (64), Jerantut (61), Jasin (53), Batu Pahat (48), Rembau (48), Sepang (47), Kota Samarahan (45), Putrajaya (45), and Kuantan (43).
Penang adds on a new orange zone
Penang now has a third orange zone, as Seberang Perai Utara which had a tally of 17 cases on April 7 increased its tally to 20 cases on April 8.
The number of orange zones in the country however remains at 17, as one of the orange zones — Kuantan — was recategorised as a red zone.
Status quo for green zones
On March 25, Malaysia had a total of 39 districts in seven states with zero Covid-19 cases, otherwise known as green zones.
In a matter of about two weeks, the number of green zones in Malaysia has currently fallen to just 29 districts in six states as of April 6. The figure has remained unchanged on April 7 and April 8.
The Health Ministry is seeking to empower communities living in green zones to maintain their green zone status, including by limiting and recording the entry and exit of visitors and local residents, reporting to the community leader or police when group activities are detected, mobilising the existing residents’ committee as a coordinator for Covid-19 prevention activities in the community, and reporting any suspected Covid-19 cases to authorities.
Today, the government is expected to come out with new standard operating procedures for the control of the public’s movement that may depend on the severity of the Covid-19 situation, including whether an area falls within the categories of red zone or green zone, for example.
So far, the government has chosen to impose tighter controls on movement in small selected areas in red zones, instead of on entire districts that are in the red zone category.
For example, four enhanced movement control orders (EMCO) are now imposed in selected villages and buildings where a high concentration of Covid-19 cases have been detected, with no residents allowed to leave and non-residents barred from entry as the Health Ministry carries out door-to-door checks to actively detect Covid-19 infections.
The death toll in Malaysia from Covid-19 cases currently stands at 65.
