KUALA LUMPUR – Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said he fears the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic is "yet to come" after the country saw 71 deaths in the first nine days of this year alone.
In a grim Facebook posting early this morning, Noor Hisham shared several pictures of front-line workers carrying out burials donning full personal protective equipment (PPE) under searing temperatures.
He said since the start of the new year, fatalities related to Covid-19 have increased daily.
By comparision, he said the country saw fewer than 100 fatalities in the first nine months of last year.
"It's not easy for (health) workers to manage the remains of Covid-19 patients. They must wear complete PPE and bathe in sweat in the grave until they complete the burial of a Covid-19 case," he said in the post.
"May we all understand the challenges and tribulations faced by all frontliners. Let's help the country with us taking care of ourselves, (and) us taking care of our families. May we all be protected from the Covid-19 disaster."
As of yesterday, the country's death toll stands at 542. Last Friday, the country recorded 16 deaths, the highest in a single day since the pandemic began.
Overall, the national tally of Covid-19 cases is at 133,559, with 26,185 still active at press time.
Also on Friday, Noor Hisham said Malaysia could see up to 8,000 new Covid-19 cases daily by the end of May if its infectivity rate, or R naught (R0), continues to hover between 1.1 and 1.2.
Noor Hisham said this can only be averted if the R0 is brought down to 0.5 with more chains of transmissions in the country broken. – The Vibes, January 10, 2021
