KUALA LUMPUR: The country is doing better against the Omicron wave than it did with the Delta wave in July 2021 due to wide vaccination coverage and high booster uptakes.
The Health Ministry is confident that Malaysia is dealing with a "completely different situation" regards the Omicron wave despite clocking more than 10,000 new daily cases.
The ministry, by comparing five key indicators, demonstrated that Covid-19 vaccinations and booster jabs have helped reduce hospitalisations, admissions to Intensive Care Units (ICU) and fatalities.
The five key indicators - vaccination rates, new daily cases, admissions to hospitals, ICU admissions and daily deaths - compared data obtained from July 13, 2021, (Delta wave) with data from Monday (Feb 7, 2022).
The number of fully vaccinated individuals recorded an eightfold increase - from 3,940,548 people on July 13 to 25,723,208 people on Feb 7.
A total 12,473,139 individuals have also received their booster jabs, as of Monday.
Not much difference could be observed in terms of new daily cases as Malaysia registered 11,079 new cases on July 13 and reported 11,034 cases on Feb 7.
However, the number of cases admitted to hospitals on Feb 7 was only 1,253 compared to the 1,988 cases that were hospitalised on July 13.
ICU admissions on July 13 stood at 1,436 and by contrast, only 135 patients were receiving treatment at ICU wards on Monday.
Meanwhile, only nine deaths were reported on Monday, as opposed to 193 deaths on July 13.
With Malaysia currently gripped by the Omicron wave, new daily cases are expected to soar up to 22,000 cases by the end of March.