Malaysia has had its first day without a single death due to Covid-19 for over 18 months, Bernama reports.
Data driven journey
Malaysian Minister of Health Khairy Jamaluddin posted the news on twitter, saying that June 18 was the first day since Dec. 18, 2020, without a reported death from Covid-19.
He added, “Our ongoing transition to endemicity has been calibrated and data-driven. Let us pray it continues paying off.”
According to Malaysia's CovidNow portal, the number of confirmed Covid-19 infections and intensive care patients are nearing a six-month low.
But according to the Malay Mail, this good news is tempered by an uptick in hospital admissions. However, those admitted to hospital were mainly those with milder symptoms, while patients with more severe symptoms decreased by 8 per cent.
Despite cases overall also being near a 6-month low, the country saw an increase in cases, mainly due to local cases. This brought Malaysia’s infectivity rate to 1.08, from 0.96 the previous week.
Thankful responses
Respondents to the news on twitter were largely thankful, although there were minor complaints about mask wearing littered amongst them, with some complaining that the mask mandate should be lifted and others saying it was not sufficiently enforced.
Meanwhile in Singapore, a gentle nudge
Meanwhile, Singapore's Health Minister Ong Ye Kang posted a reminder for people to go get their booster shots, warning of a potential new wave in upcoming months.
Top image via @khairykj/Twitter