.JPG "Health workers test residents near the Selayang wholesale market for Covid-19 in Kuala Lumpur April 21, 2020. u00e2u20acu201d Picture by Hari Anggara")
KUALA LUMPUR, April 21 — The number of districts in Malaysia classified as green zones — those without any Covid-19 cases currently — rose to 56 yesterday (April 20), based on the latest figures from the Health Ministry released today.
Yesterday was also when the country hit a record low of new Covid-19 cases during the movement control order (MCO) period with just 36 additional cases, and also recorded zero deaths from Covid-19.
A new way of looking at green zones
Previously, the Health Ministry's daily maps on districts nationwide only showed the classification of districts according to the total cumulative cases or all the accumulated cases reported in such districts, with green zones being districts where no Covid-19 cases had ever been recorded, yellow zones for those with one to 20 cases, orange zones for those with 21 to 40 cases, and the most severe category — red zones for those with at least 41 cases.
Based on the tallies for total cumulative cases, there are now only 26 districts nationwide as of yesterday which had never recorded any Covid-19 cases, namely three districts in peninsula Malaysia (Yan in Kedah, Machang in Kelantan, Hulu Terengganu in Terengganu), eight in Sabah (Kota Marudu, Kudat, Nabawan, Pitas, Tenom, Kuala Penyu, Tongod, Beluran) and 15 in Sarawak (Kapit, Baram, Belaga, Dalat, Daro, Julau, Kanowit, Lundu, Song, Saratok, Lubok Antu, Meradong, Pakan, Tatau, Selangau).
But the Health Ministry's daily nationwide maps have now started including the total active cases in each of the districts for the third day now, with the same colour code being used to categorise districts according to the number of Covid-19 patients still under treatment in each district.
This means that a district, which is a yellow, orange or red zone in terms of the accumulated number of Covid-19 cases reported in the district, could be regarded as a green zone if it has zero active cases.
Under the Health Ministry's definition, the number of active cases is arrived at by deducting deaths and recoveries from the total cumulative cases.
Green zones with zero active cases on upward trend
In addition to the 26 green zones that never recorded any Covid-19 cases, the Health Ministry's data as of April 18 showed that there were also 21 districts that had recorded Covid-19 cases previously but had zero active cases on that day.
This means that there were a total of 47 districts in Malaysia that were green zones with zero active cases on April 18.
The number of green zones with zero active cases has continued to increase to 52 districts on April 19, and to 56 districts on April 20.
This positive trend is also in tandem with the low daily number of new Covid-19 cases over the past few days, with 54 new cases on April 18, 84 (April 19) and the lowest so far during the MCO period at 36 cases (April 20).
Where the new green zones are
Based on the Health Ministry's data as of April 20 noon, the districts that are now newly added to the list of green zones with zero active cases are three districts in Negri Sembilan (Rembau, Tampin, Kuala Pilah) and two in Pahang (Pekan, Bentong).
This is due to the number of active cases in these districts becoming zero on April 20, down from the initial number of active cases recorded on April 19 (Bentong – four cases; Rembau – two cases; Pekan, Tampin, Kuala Pilah – one case each).
The Rembau district in Negri Sembilan is the only district in Malaysia to be a green zone with zero active cases as of April 20, despite having been classified as a red zone in terms of total cumulative cases. None of the other districts in Malaysia that are red zones in terms of their total tallies are shown to have zero active cases.
The red zone with the top number of active cases
As of April 20, the district with the most number of active cases in the whole country is the Lembah Pantai district in Kuala Lumpur with 343 active cases. (The Lembah Pantai district — which covers the three parliamentary constituencies Lembah Pantai, Bukit Bintang and Seputeh — also happens to be the top red zone nationwide in terms of total cumulative cases for more than two weeks now).
After the Lembah Pantai district, the top red zones in terms of active case are the Kuching district in Sarawak at 221 active cases, Seremban district in Negri Sembilan (113), the Selangor districts of Petaling (111) and Hulu Langat (106), followed by Kluang (86), Kepong (84), Kuantan (73), Johor Bahru (72), Klang (68), Melaka Tengah (61), Titiwangsa (57) and Kota Samarahan (55).
As a whole, in terms of active cases as of April 20, the number of districts in Malaysia that are yellow zones are 71, while there are eight orange zones and 13 red zones.
What about in terms of total cumulative cases
Based on the total cumulative cases of each district as of April 20, status quo remains in terms of the number of red zones (30), the number of orange zones (17) and the number of green zones where no cases had been recorded (26) when compared to April 19.
As of April 20, there have so far been 5,425 Covid-19 cases reported in Malaysia, with 3,295 or 60 per cent of such patients already recovered, 2,041 or 38 per cent still being treated, while the 89 deaths reported account for 1.6 per cent of the total cases.
