KUALA LUMPUR, April 12 — Penang’s Seberang Perai Utara district has now become an orange zone, which means that three out of the five districts in the state are now orange zones or one step below the most severe category of red zones, the latest Health Ministry data released today shows.
Seberang Perai Utara, which was initially a yellow zone with 20 Covid-19 cases recorded as of April 10, became an orange zone when its total tally of cases crossed the 21-case threshold and increased to 23 cases as of April 11.
Technically, Seberang Perai Utara was already an orange zone on April 8 as areas with 20 cases or more fell in that category, but the ministry revised its classification on April 9 to make orange zones as those with 21 cases or higher, returning it to yellow briefly.
With the addition of Seberang Perai Utara, there are now a total of 15 orange zones in the country as of April 11.
As of April 11, the districts with between 21 and 40 Covid-19 cases recorded or which fall within the orange zone categories are: Muar with 40 cases, Seberang Perai Tengah (38), Lahad Datu (38), Kota Kinabalu (35), Kuala Muda (35), Dungun (33), Besut (32), Kulai (32), Kuala Selangor (31), Timur Laut (30), Alor Gajah (28), Kota Setar (26) and Kuala Langat (24), Seberang Perai Utara (23), Pekan (23).
Top red zone in KL for nine days straight
The country’s top red zone for nine consecutive days is the Lembah Pantai district in Kuala Lumpur, with a total tally of 459 Covid-19 cases as of April 11.
The Lembah Pantai district’s total cumulative tally had steadily increased over the past eight days as the nationwide top spot at 322 cases (April 3), 367 cases (April 4), 376 cases (April 5), 386 cases (April 6), 412 cases (April 7), 417 cases (April 8), 424 cases (April 9), 427 cases (April 10).
In the latest available map as of April 8, the Covid-19 cases recorded in the Lembah Pantai district were shown to be mostly in the Seputeh parliamentary constituency within this district, rather than in the parliamentary constituencies of Bukit Bintang and Lembah Pantai that are also within this district under the Health Ministry’s offices.
While the top red zone has been in Kuala Lumpur for the past nine days, the federal territory of Kuala Lumpur is only the second most-affected at 759 cases so far, as compared to worst-hit state Selangor at 1,183 cases as of April 11.
The hotspots with the second and third highest number of Covid-19 cases in the country are in Selangor, namely the districts of Hulu Langat at 378 cases and Petaling at 335 cases as of April 11.
A closer look at the Covid-19 cases in Selangor by mukim or parishes as of April 11 shows that parishes within the Hulu Langat district that are red zones are Kajang (135), Hulu Langat (106), Ampang (67) and Cheras (50), while parishes that are red zones within the Petaling district are Damansara (120), Bukit Raja (101) and Petaling (100).
No new red zones
Malaysia now has 26 red zones including the Melaka Tengah district which was added on to the list of April 10. No new red zones were recorded on April 11.
As of April 11, the number of Covid-19 cases in the 26 red zones nationwide are: Lembah Pantai (459), Hulu Langat (378), Petaling (335), Kuching (215), Seremban (213), Kluang (183), Johor Bahru (176), Klang (169), Gombak (125), Kepong (119), Titiwangsa (112), Kinta (98), Kota Bahru (88), Kuantan (76), Tawau (70), Cheras (69), Jasin (67), Hilir Perak (66), Jerantut (64), Sepang (61), Rembau (53), Putrajaya (51), Batu Pahat (51), Kota Samarahan (47), Melaka Tengah (46), and Hulu Selangor (45).
Taken together, the 26 red zones have a combined total of 3,336 Covid-19 cases recorded so far.
This means that these 26 districts account for 73.6 per cent of the 4,530 cases recorded in Malaysia as of April 11.
As of April 11, no green zones have been lost, with the number of districts with zero Covid 19-cases reported so far still standing at 29 districts in six states, a figure that has been unchanged since April 6.
Malaysia originally had a total of 39 districts in seven states with zero Covid-19 cases or green zones as of March 25.
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.
The death toll in Malaysia from Covid-19 cases stand at 73 as of April 11.
