KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 19 — With polls tomorrow, the Melaka Health Department has reminded voters that the state’s Covid-19 situation remains unstable but at a manageable level with daily cases showing a downward trend of late.
With health authorities already rolling out preparedness measures for the treatment and recovery of infected Covid-19 patients, state Health director Dr Rusdi Abd Rahman revealed most of the key indicators, such as the average number of active cases, deaths and intensive care cases, have shown a decline.
He said the decline was recorded during the 45th Epidemiological Week (EW) from November 7 to 13.
“However, the infectivity rate of Covid-19 or R0/Rt recorded an increase to 0.97 on November 12. Such a situation is worrying since the rise in new cases and Rt value from the previous weeks show the potential for Covid-19 infection to spread among the community with high risk of exposure to the virus.
“The increase in Rt value is directly proportional to the increase in new Covid-19 cases, especially if preventive measures are not fully adhered to by all parties,” he said in a statement.
Highlighting the instability, Dr Rusdi said the average seven-day case incidence rate was still high at 19.9 per 100,000 people in the 45th EW.
“The rate of infection in Melaka for the period of 14 days (from November 4 to 18) is 290 per 100,000 individuals and ranks fifth amongst other states in the country.
“The Rt in Melaka shows an unstable trend in that two-week period but still its value was lower than the national level,” he said.
In his disclosure, Dr Rusdi said the number of new cases in Melaka recorded a decline of 7 per cent from 1,400 the previous week to 1,300 in the 45th EW.
The average number of active cases also saw a decline of 8.7 per cent from the previous EW of 3,075 to 2,805 seen in the 45th EW.
As for deaths, a decline of 33 per cent from six to four Covid-19 related fatalities were recorded for the same period.
Based on risk factors identified in the 45th EW, Dr Rusdi said infections among close contact family members contributed the most to new cases reported at 46.8 per cent and followed by sporadic infections at 36.9 per cent.
Stressing the present Covid-19 circumstances of the state being unstable but manageable, Dr Rusdi said health authorities continuously perform observation and assessments from time to time so early measures could be implemented to avoid overcrowding in hospital beds.
He noted that Melaka has four government hospitals and four private hospitals with the average weekly occupancy for critical care at 23 per cent.
“For the purpose of facility preparedness under the Health Ministry, the number of beds for Covid-19 care could be further increased to a maximum of 721 beds in Hospital Melaka where non-Covid-19 patients could be transferred to other hospitals for treatment,” he said.
He again reminded that it was still critical for every individual in general to practice the necessary standard operating procedures to curb the spread of infection despite various measures and strategies imposed.
“Heighted discipline from every individual is much needed to ensure no further infection waves or spikes in cases will take place,” he said.
The 12-day campaigning period in Melaka will end tonight and voting will take place tomorrow.
