3000 Case Daily For 8 Straight Day

PUTRAJAYA: The number of new daily Covid-19 cases in Malaysia remained above the 3,000-mark for the eighth day in a row, with Kuala Lumpur topping the list of states for most number of infections.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said with the 3,170 new cases, Covid-19 cases in the country now stood at 172,549 cumulatively.

“Kuala Lumpur reported the highest increase with 576 infections.

“Out of this total, 310 or 56.9% were from identified clusters as well as cases detected from active screening of close contacts, ” he said.

Selangor, which has been the state with the most cases recently, reported 545 new infections yesterday, or 17.2% of the country’s total.

In the same 24-hour span, 12 people died due to Covid-19. They were all Malaysians aged between 47 and 84.

Two of them – an 82-year-old man and an 81-year-old woman – were declared “dead on arrival” at Hospital Lahad Datu in Sabah.

Malaysia’s Covid-19 death toll is now at 642.

Dr Noor Hisham said a total of 3,170 patients were discharged, bringing the number of recoveries in the country to 130,152.

“Nationwide, there are 41,755 active cases that are being treated at hospitals and quarantine centres.

“Of that total, 260 patients are in intensive care, with 103 on ventilator support, ” he said in his daily briefing here yesterday.

Dr Noor Hisham added that the Health Ministry had identified 16 new Covid-19 clusters nationwide, of which 11 are linked to workplaces.

At present, the country has 327 active clusters.

On another matter, Dr Noor Hisham has suggested that a maximum of 20 people be allowed at funerals to prevent clusters such as the Pasai cluster in Sarawak and last year’s Tawar cluster in Kedah from recurring.

“We realise that gatherings such as funerals or weddings have the potential to spread Covid-19 if someone who is positive is in attendance. This is what we have seen with the two big clusters of Pasai and Tawar.

“We understand that funerals are a sensitive issue, due to cultural and emotional reasons.

“What is more important is we should limit funeral gatherings to 20 people. Such gatherings also need approval from the police, ” he said.

Dr Noor Hisham added that it was very important for attendees of such gatherings to comply with Covid-19 guidelines at all times.

The Pasai cluster is currently Sarawak’s biggest cluster with 981 confirmed infections and one death.

The cluster originated from a 32-year-old woman who travelled from Johor on Dec 29 to attend her father’s funeral in Sibu.

Three Week Lockdown In Cyprus

Cyprus entered a three-week lockdown on Sunday in its latest bid to curb the coronavirus pandemic.

Under the lockdown, people are required to stay at home, and shopping malls, department stores, retail shops and restaurants should remain closed.

The streets of the capital Nicosia and other cities, which normally throb with life, were deserted at midday on Sunday, and highways were empty of cars. 

Policemen were deployed on the streets to check people's written or SMS passes, with which they are permitted to go out for a short time twice a day for buying essentials like food, or for physical exercise.

This is the second time similar measures have come into force, the previous one being from mid-March to the third week of May last year.

The first wave of the coronavirus pandemic was beaten effectively in the country. However, a second and more aggressive one started after airports were opened to international flights in early July.

The lockdown was announced on Friday by Minister of Health Constantinos Ioannou. He noted that a wave of infections and increased hospital admissions brought the public health system on the verge of its capacity in caring for COVID-19 patients.

Public health officials said they are preparing two hospitals in the cities of Larnaca and Paphos to accept coronavirus patients after almost all beds in dedicated COVID-19 hospitals were taken up.

The Ministry of Health announced on Saturday six more coronavirus deaths, which brought the death toll to 147. The country with a population of less than one million has registered a total of 27,071 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic broke out.

Top Glove Gives Special Dividend Of 20%

As predicted. Top Glove Corporation Bhd, which has recorded supernormal profits due to demand surge caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, announced on Monday it has committed to a special dividend of 20%.

In their press statement on Monday, the world’s largest glove maker said the special dividend was in addition to its existing dividend policy of a 50% dividend payout ratio on its profit after tax and minority interests for the second, third and fourth quarters of financial year 2021.

At 3.47pm, it was trading at RM5.65, down 47 sen with nearly 320 million shares done.

It hit an early low of RM5.23.

The FBM KLCI was down 18.90 points or 1.16% to 1,608.32. Turnover was 6.04 billion shares valued at RM4.85bil.

Latest (501.V2) Coronavirus Mutation Was Discovered

Like any other pathogen, the novel coronavirus is constantly evolving in response to the hosts it infects. It’s a mutation that allowed the virus to jump species between animals and ultimately reach humans. At least, that’s what researchers think happened with the original strain that infected the first people.

SARS-CoV-2 continued to mutate after that, with scientists tracking those genetic changes closely. This is crucial because mutations can make a virus more infectious or dangerous and can hinder drug and vaccine research. Several notable novel coronavirus strains have been found so far. The D614G mutation is believed to be responsible for the current status of the pandemic.

A few days ago, UK health officials announced that another new coronavirus mutation was spreading rapidly in the south of the country. The strain featured 17 distinct genetic changes, most of them impacting the spike protein. One of them is called N501Y, affecting the receptor-binding motif of the spike protein, according to the UK COVID-19 Genomics Consortium. The mutation did not appear to cause more severe illness, according to public health officials.

Now, a few days later, South African authorities have reported another SARS-CoV-2 mutation that’s apparently driving the second wave in the country. South Africa is nearing 1 million infections, with more than 24,000 people having died of COVID-19 complications. The second wave started in mid-November, with the country registering more than 10,000 cases in a single day a few days ago. This appears to be the second wave’s local peak, but the case count might continue to climb.

The new strain seems to be more dangerous, causing more severe illness in younger patients who do not suffer from other medical conditions.

Worldwide Panic On New Deadly Virus

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday warned state and local health officials about potential infections from a deadly virus previously unseen in humans that has now sickened 14 people and killed 8.

A Generic Coronavirus

Most of the infections have occurred in the Middle East, but a new analysis of three confirmed infections in Britain suggests the virus can pass from person to person rather than from animal to humans, the CDC said in its Weekly Morbidity and Mortality Report on Thursday.

The virus is a coronavirus, part of the same family of viruses as the common cold and the deadly outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) that first emerged in Asia in 2003. The new virus is not the same as SARS, but like the SARS virus, it is similar to those found in bats.

So far, no cases have been reported in the United States.

According to the CDC's analysis, the infections in Britain started with a 60-year-old man who had recently traveled to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia and developed a respiratory illness on January 24, 2013. Samples from the man showed he was infected with both the new virus and with H1N1, or swine flu.

This man subsequently passed the infection to two members of his household: a male with an underlying illness who became ill on February 6 and subsequently died; and a healthy adult female in his household who developed a respiratory illness on February 5, but who did not need to be hospitalized and has recovered.

The CDC said people who develop a severe acute lower respiratory illness within 10 days of returning from the Arabian Peninsula or neighboring countries should continue to be evaluated according to current guidelines.

The health agency said doctors should be watchful of patients who develop an unexplained respiratory infection within 10 days of traveling from the Arabian Peninsula or neighboring countries. The CDC has set up a special website with updates on the infections at http://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/ncv/ .

Symptoms of infection with this new virus include severe acute respiratory illness with fever, cough and shortness of breath. Neither the CDC nor the World Health Organization has issued travel restrictions related to the virus.

Swine Flu Affected The Worsen Economy

Swine Flu which is now being classified as a pandemic (outbreak) is now considered as a major threat to the global economy. Some financial and economic analyst started to calculated the total business losses due to Swine Flu disease. 

The business which under the major attack is tourism, transportation, airlines and business trading including meat distribution. Eating places also under a threat. 

This is the second worst major outbreak after the Bird Flu crisis that attack Asian Countries economy couple of years ago. This time Northern and Central American were the main center of the crisis. The outbreak has taking more lives in the shortest time compared to Bird Flu. 

Up until now US CDC (Center of Disease Control) has warned that the cure of swine flu might not get completed in the crisis time. The only solution for swine flu is to stop taking pig meat and others pig related food. 

Please stay away from any pig either has been infected or not.