PUTRAJAYA – Malaysians have been urged to implement self-lockdown as the current Covid-19 cases are infections that occurred before and during the Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebration, said Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba.
Dr Adham said Malaysia recorded 40 religious clusters, with 19 detected in Johor and 13 in Selangor, while eight more were found in Melaka, Negri Sembilan and Kelantan.
“Religious clusters emerged during the fasting month and Hari Raya Aidilfitri, and proliferated due to the movement of people. If we can reduce mobilisation, we can reduce virus transmission,” he told reporters at a virtual press conference with minister Khairy Jamaluddin today.
He also called on the public to implement self-lockdown to break the Covid-19 chain of transmission as this method has proved successful in other countries.
Meanwhile, Dr Adham said a total of 38,785 Covid-19 cases were reported from May 16 to May 22, with an average of 5,541 cases a day.
“A total of 333 deaths were reported during the week with an average of 48 deaths per day,” he said, adding workplace and community clusters also recorded an increase within the period.
In another development, Dr Adham said so far, no Covid-19 vaccine recipients have had to receive intensive treatment at hospitals over any side effects.
He said there have been cases of serious side effects experienced by recipients detected by the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency as well as through the MySejahtera application since the implementation of the vaccination exercise in February. However, that number is small, at 0.1% of 1,000 doses, he said.
“They have received treatment and have been discharged from the hospital. They didn’t need long-term hospitalisation,” he said.
Dr Adham said a large number of those who suffered side effects after getting their Covid-19 jabs only experienced mild side effects, such as pain at the injection site, headache and fatigue, which are normally experienced by vaccine recipients.
Previously, he was reported as saying that about 99.5% of the 25,770 recipients who experience side effects from the Covid-19 injection were found to have mild side effects, while the remaining cases required treatment and observation by health specialists. – Bernama, May 25, 2021