KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is seeing a significant decrease in serious Covid-19 cases thanks to the accelerated nationwide vaccination drive, said Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
The premier said he had instructed the Health Ministry to be better prepared to welcome new admissions of Covid-19 patients and provide them with the best possible treatment at all government hospitals amid the vaccination programme.
This, he said was crucial as the world is recording an upward trend of Covid-19 cases with the emergence of more violent new variants.
"The data shows that serious Covid-19 cases recorded a significant decrease with vaccine administration.
"For example, among the elderly group (60 years and above), the trend of admissions to Sungai Buloh Hospital for positive cases in categories 4 and 5 has decreased by more than 50 percent the past month.
"The elderly group is in phase 2 of the Covid-19 National Immunisation Programme (NIP) and now the positive impact of this vaccine administration is becoming evident," he wrote on Facebook today.
Muhyiddin said the same goes for all Health Ministry personnel where they have received the Covid-19 vaccine earlier under Phase 1 of the NIP.
It was found that only 1.26 percent of the ministry's healthcare workers were infected with Covid-19 after receiving complete vaccination.
"A total 99.8 percent of them had only mild or asymptomatic symptoms and none were of Covid-19 category 5.
"Another example is Labuan, where the delta variant was first detected in our country. The government took immediate action by increasing the supply of vaccines to Labuan.
"As a result, the number of positive cases and deaths due to Covid-19 in Labuan has been reduced with the increase in vaccination rates."
Additionally, Muhyiddin said the statement by Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah that more than 90 percent of Covid-19 positive cases in our country are in categories 1 and 2 is reassuring.
This means, most are asymptomatic or mild symptomatic cases capable of recovering, he said.
On the "Operation Surge Capacity" for Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, he said this was an immediate action taken by the government to address the sharp rise in positive cases in the two locations.
"Under this operation, as announced by the NIP coordinating minister Khairy Jamaluddin and Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba, all 6.1 million adult population in KL and Selangor will receive at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine by Aug 1.
"This involves the administration of the vaccine at a rate of 1.3 million doses until July 25 and another 1.3 million doses between July 26 and Aug 1.
"To date, 3.5 million of the adult population in Selangor and KL have received at least one dose of the vaccine.
"We are all trying to fight Covid-19. We must always persevere to continue to fight and fight. God willing, we will win in the end," he added.