PRESS STATEMENT
MINISTRY OF HEALTH MALAYSIA
UPDATES ON THE CORONAVIRUS DISEASE 2019 (COVID-19)
SITUATION IN MALAYSIA
Current Status of Confirmed COVID-19 Cases Who Have Recovered
13 May 2020 – The Ministry of Health (MOH) would like to inform that 58 cases have fully recovered and discharged well today. Cumulatively, 5,281 confirmed COVID-19 cases have fully recovered (77.9% of total cumulative cases).
Current Situation of COVID-19 in Malaysia
13 May 2020, 12 pm – A total of 37 additional confirmed COVID-19 cases were reported to the National Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre (CPRC) MOH today, of which 21 cases are amongst non-Malaysians. Of these 37 additional cases, 4 are imported cases and 33 cases are due to local transmission.
Cumulatively there are now 6,779 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Malaysia. Therefore, there are currently 1,387 active and infective COVID-19 cases.
Currently, 16 confirmed COVID-19 cases are receiving treatment in intensive care units (ICU), and of these, four (4) cases are on ventilation support.
Regretfully, two (2) additional COVID-19 deaths were reported to the National CPRC MOH today. Cumulatively, there are now 111 COVID-19 deaths in Malaysia (1.64% of total cumulative cases):
- Death #110: Case 6,743 is a 30 year-old Malaysian man who was found dead in Rompin, Pahang. The result of the COVID-19 sample test taken during the autopsy was positive on 12 May 2020. The case is under investigation by the Royal Malaysian Police and the Rompin District Health Office. The cause of the infection has not been identified and is still under investigation.
- Death #111: Case 5,195 is a 90 year-old Malaysian man who has a history of hypertension and chronic respiratory disease. He was admitted into Enche’ Besar Hajjah Khalsom Hospital, Johor on 16 April 2020 and was pronounced dead on 13 May 2020 at 10.36 am.
MOH conveys condolences to all the family members.
Malaysia’s Achievement in Flattening the Curve
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, MOH has been informing the public on the number of daily additional cases, cumulative cases and active cases. Looking at the cumulative cases (green line), the number of cumulative cases is increasing but the rate of increase is slowly decreasing. This is because the number of daily additional cases (blue line) is also decreasing. This causes the number of active cases to decrease (orange line), thus indicating that the actions taken so far have been successful in flattening the curve.
The Movement Control Order (MCO), effective from 18 March 2020 and extended as MCO 2, 3, 4 and later the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO), have helped to provide the Government with a range of public health measures and activities to curb the transmission of the COVID-19 infection. Among the measures taken are international borders control, screening and sampling of identified at-risk individuals, active case detection as well as targeted approaches for high-risk populations.
Modelling and Forecasting by the National Institute of Health, MOH
The effectiveness of the Government’s approach can be proven by examining the modeling and forecasting results developed by the National Health Institute (NIH) MOH, whereby MCO 1 through MCO 4 have been successful in reducing the infectivity of COVID-19 in the country.
The black lines in this graph represent the actual daily additional cases that have been reported by MOH, and they are in-line with the projection by NIH MOH as in the blue bars, which are the daily expected additional cases.
R0 (R naught) refers to the infectivity of a virus at the beginning of an outbreak in the community, that is the average of how many people can be infected by the positive case. For example, if the value of R is 4, this means that each positive case can spread the disease to 4 others.
The value of R can be decreased if proper precautionary and preventive measures are taken continuously in the community. Likewise, this value can rise again if the public becomes complacent and non-compliant to preventive measures. Lowering the value of R to less than 1 continuously will help to end an outbreak.
Looking back at the modeling and forecasting by NIH MOH, the value of R0 (R naught) at the beginning of the MCO (18 March 2020) was 3.5. This R value has been reduced to 0.3 following the positive impact of the actions taken by the Government and assisted by the public’s compliance. If all parties, including traders, employers, employees and the general public remain in compliance with the CMCO and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) set by the Government, this R value will continue to decline, and the COVID-19 outbreak can be terminated.
However, if the public becomes complacent and do not comply to the SOPs, the R value will rise again, as can be seen in the dashed red line. This will result in the increase of daily additional cases in the country (shown as red bars).
Health Advisory on COVID-19
Therefore, to ensure that the value of R remains less than one, social empowerment is very important amongst the general public. All levels of the society must take social responsibility and play their part in curbing the COVID-19 infection. This can be done by adopting precautionary and preventive measures recommended by the MOH, particularly comply with THiS:
- T: Terms and SOPs set under the CMCO
- Hi: High-risk groups such as children, infants, older adults and the disabled must be protected, and if unwell with symptoms, to seek early treatment
- S: Safe social distancing is practiced at all times, of at least 1 metre away from others
Business owners, traders and employers must comply with all terms and SOPs set by the authorities. Public gatherings and all activities that expose the public to the risk of COVID-19 infection are still not allowed.
MOH also advises the public to remember the 3Cs and 3Ws:
- Avoid the 3Cs: Crowded places; Confined spaces; Close conversations
- Practice the 3Ws: Wash hands frequently with water and soap; Wearing facemasks is advisable in public areas or if symptomatic; Warn self and others for the following
- Avoid shaking hands or touching others
- Practice good coughing and sneezing etiquette
- Disinfect frequently touched surfaces
- Stay at home
- Seek treatment if symptomatic
MOH will continue to monitor the development of the COVID-19 situation, both in the country as well as internationally, based on available information from the World Health Organization (WHO). The public will be continuously updated on the latest information. In addition, MOH will ensure that appropriate preventive and control measures are continuously implemented.
Thank you.
Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah
Director General of Health Malaysia
13 May 2020 @ 4.30 pm
Number of Confirmed COVID-19 Cases in Malaysia, by States
(Cumulative, as of 13 May 2020, 12 pm)
| State | No. of New Cases * | Cumulative |
| Perlis | 0 | 18 |
| Kedah | 0 | 95 |
| Pulau Pinang | 0 | 121 |
| Perak | 0 | 255 |
| Selangor | 2 | 1,612 |
| Negeri Sembilan | 22 | 764 |
| Melaka | 2 | 213 |
| Johor | 0 | 667 |
| Pahang | 3 | 315 |
| Terengganu | 0 | 110 |
| Kelantan | 0 | 155 |
| Sabah | 2 | 330 |
| Sarawak | 1 (1) | 544 |
| WP Kuala Lumpur | 5 (3) | 1,475 |
| WP Putrajaya | 0 | 89 |
| WP Labuan | 0 | 16 |
| Total | 37 (4) | 6,779 |
*( ) refers to imported confirmed COVID-19 cases
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