RESIDENCES

– Taman Universiti, Kajang, Selangor

It is learned that a woman who lives in Jalan Cerdik 4 was tested positive for Covid-19 and taken to Sungai Buloh Hospital on Nov 14.

According to sources, the woman is said to be part of the Danau cluster, where the index case was tested positive on Oct 27.

As of Nov 13, health authorities have screened 1,674 individuals during contact tracing activities related to the cluster, of which 15 have been found positive.

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CONSTRUCTION SITES

– Pavilion Damansara Heights construction site, Damansara, Kuala Lumpur

The Health Ministry today reported 460 new Covid-19 positive cases linked to the Tapak Bina Damanlela cluster, making the cluster’s total number increased to 747 to date.

It is believed that the Pavilion Damansara Heights construction site, which is located on Jalan Damanlela, is linked to this cluster.

Malaysiakini has previously reported this site as one of the locations affected by Covid-19 on Nov 7, when the ministry first announced the Tapak Bina Damanlela cluster.

Source : From https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/550987

COVID-19 | The Health Ministry today reported 1,208 new Covid-19 infections, the third consecutive day where new daily cases were more than 1,000.

The bulk of the new cases today was contributed by Kuala Lumpur, which recorded 475 new cases, exceeding Sabah which registered 381 new cases.

Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, in a statement, explained the bulk of the new cases in Kuala Lumpur were from dormitories of foreign workers.

He said a total of 460 cases in Kuala Lumpur came from the Damanlela construction site cluster, involving an under-construction mall in Damansara.

For the seventh consecutive day, the number of new daily Covid-19 cases in Peninsular has exceeded those in East Malaysia.

Previously, East Malaysia made up the bulk of new cases as Sabah was the epicentre in the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in the country.

However, Sabah has seen significant improvement while infection rate in Selangor and Negeri Sembilan remain stubborn.

There were also 1,013 recoveries.

Leading indicators, as of today, in brief:

Active cases = 12,323 ↑ (192 more than the previous day)

Patients in intensive care = 104↑ (1 more than the previous day)

Intubated patients = 42↓ (1 less than the previous day)

Deaths = 3↑ (1 more than the previous day)

The three new deaths, including a child, put the death toll at 309.

Details about the three deaths are as follows:

Patient 45,459 (Death 307): Eight-year-old Malaysian girl. Passed away at Tawau Hospital, Sabah. Did not have any pre-existing conditions.

Patient 32,143 (Death 308): 77-year-old Malaysian man. Passed away at Duchess of Kent Hospital, Sabah. Had a history of high blood pressure, heart disease and kidney disease.

Patient 45,486 (Death 309): 63-year-old Malaysian woman. Passed away at Hospital Duchess of Kent, Sabah. Had a history of diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.

Of the 1,208 new cases today, six were imported. 

All of the six imported cases involved non-citizens coming from India (3), Bangladesh (1), Nepal (1) and Indonesia (1).

The breakdown of the new cases by state and territory is as follows:

Kuala Lumpur (475)
Existing clusters: 462
Close contacts: 2
Other screenings: 5
Imported: 6

Sabah (381)
Existing clusters: 53
New clusters: 14 (Plaza cluster and Jalan Kalabakan cluster)
Close contacts: 191
Other screenings: 123

Selangor (185)
Existing clusters: 132
close contacts: 24
Other screenings: 29

Negeri Sembilan (48)
Existing clusters: 39
Close contacts: 7
Severe Acute Respiratory Infections (Sari) screening: 1
Other screenings: 1

Penang (42)
Existing clusters: 37
Close contacts: 3
Sari screening: 1
Other screenings: 1

Labuan (30)
Existing clusters: 19
Close contacts: 9
Sari screening: 1
Other screenings: 1

Perak (21)
Existing clusters: 8
Close contacts: 6
Other screenings: 7

Johor (9)
New clusters: 3 (Jeri cluster)
Sari screening: 1
Other screenings: 5

Kedah (8)
Existing clusters: 8

Sarawak (4)
Existing clusters: 3
Other screenings: 1

Malacca (2)
Existing clusters: 1
Close contacts: 1

Kelantan (1)
Close contacts: 1

Putrajaya (1)
Other screenings: 1

Perlis (1)
Existing clusters: 1

Pahang and Terengganu did not record any new cases today.

Noor Hisham also reported three new clusters today. The Bah Arnab cluster, which saw a total of 12 cases, was declared over.

The new clusters are the Plaza cluster and Jalan Kalabakan cluster in Sabah and Jeri cluster in Johor.

The Plaza cluster involves the district of Kota Kinabalu. The cluster was traced to Patient 42,299 through a screening of symptomatic persons on Nov 11.

Contact tracing revealed another 11 infections, all of which were reported today.

The Jalan Kalabakan cluster involves the district of Tawau. It was traced to patient 31,309 who was detected through testing of symptomatic persons on Oct 31.

Contact tracing found another 21 infections, three of which were reported today.

The Jeri cluster involved the districts of Kota Tinggi, Mersing and Muar in Johor.

The index case was discovered at the international crossing between Malaysia and Singapore on Nov 6.

Contact tracing on the Malaysian side of the border found a total of 26 cases from this cluster, three of which were reported today.

Another 609 people are awaiting their test results.

Source : Form https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/551030

World Diabetes Day is celebrated annually on Nov 14 to raise awareness about the growing health threat posed by diabetes.

In the 2019 National Health and Morbidity Survey, 50.1 percent of Malaysian adults were found to be overweight (30.4 percent) or obese (19.7 percent). This predominantly lifestyle risk factor can partly explain the increasing diabetes prevalence in Malaysia. In 2019, a staggering 3.9 million Malaysian adults had diabetes.

People with diabetes suffer another blow during this Covid-19 pandemic. If infected, they are 2.4 times more likely to suffer severe Covid-19 and their mortality risk is 2.5 times more than those without diabetes. From the Covid-19 statistics in Malaysia, 70 percent of those who died had underlying diabetes comorbidity.

Evidence also shows that poor glycated haemoglobin A1C (blood sugar control over two to three months) is an independent predictor for Covid-19 deaths. In England, patients with poor A1C were up to 60 percent more likely to die from Covid-19 than those with optimal A1C control.

The diabetes management guidelines before and during this pandemic have recommended optimal control of A1C, blood pressure, and LDL-cholesterol (bad cholesterol) – also known as the “ABC” of diabetes.

The benefits of achieving more ABC treatment goals are incremental. The more goals achieved, the better the outcomes in preventing diabetes complications such as kidney disease, heart attack, and death. Diabetes patients with better A1C control are shown to have better Covid-19 outcomes.

However, data from the pre-Covid-19 era showed that the proportion of patients achieving all ABC goals were under 10 percent in most parts of the world. In Malaysia, only 5.8 percent of our diabetes patients attained all their ABC goals.

What can Malaysian adults with diabetes do?

1. Be aware of the importance of ABC control. Know your ABC values, monitor them, and try to achieve your treatment goals.

2. Adhere to your treatment plan. If your doctor thinks there is a need to modify current therapy, be more receptive to it.

3. Eat sensibly, exercise regularly, reduce bodyweight (if overweight/obese), and stop smoking.

4. Practice diabetes self-care such as monitoring blood sugar at home and checking your feet regularly.

5. Adhere to your medical appointments during this pandemic.

6. Exercise preventive measures such as washing hands frequently, wearing masks correctly, practising physical distancing, and following Covid-19 Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

The theme for World Diabetes Day 2020 is ‘The Nurse and Diabetes.’ The campaign aims to raise awareness around the crucial role that nurses play in supporting people living with diabetes.

Source ： From https://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/550979

‘It is time for the authorities not to make people’s life more difficult as it already is.’

Families not allowed to circumvent ‘two per household’ rule in multiple vehicles

CMCO rule change: Now three people per vehicle allowed

Jetson: The problem with this administration is that the root cause of this pandemic is due to their own failures right from the beginning.

It is time to stop abusing the standard operating procedures (SOPs) by making people’s life more miserable.

Isn’t it ridiculous for a family that stays together not allowed to be in a single car? With the major financial constraints, it would be advisable for a family to use one car to send any member of the family to work.

There are times small children cannot be left behind alone as there may not be relatives around to take care of them. Both family members may be needed to go to the supermarket or do any other chores.

It is time for the authorities not to make people’s life more difficult as it already is. They should understand the people’s situation and not be trigger happy to issue summonses at every instance.

By right, summonses should be issued to those politicians and their agents who openly defied the SOPs by travelling to Sabah and back during the elections without undergoing quarantine.

Tholkappian: A family in a house mingle freely as no social distancing is prescribed nor the authorities allowed to intrude into their homes and check on their social distancing adherence.

But when they are out, they are told to remain at least one metre apart and they should not gather in the same place with more than two people.

The government seems to say the Covid-19 virus cannot spread to other family members in the same house but will seize the opportunity to infect them the moment they step out of their house and meet in another place even if they are seated one metre apart.

National Internal Security and Public Order Department director Abd Rahim Jaafar, with people like you, our nation is surely in the race for the most advanced country in the world award in terms of the highest percentage of “highly” intelligent and forward-thinking population in the world.

Oscar Kilo: Four from a family cannot go out together in one car to dine together, but four persons from four different households can travel in four different cars, and then sit and dine together at one table. Where is the logic?

Vladivostokian: Aren’t the roadblocks located at the borders between two different districts?

If you are travelling in a car that has four people, or travelling in two cars with two people each, to go to a restaurant within your own district, it is unlikely that you will get fined as I am assuming that you will only get fined when stopped at a roadblock, which can only happen if you are attempting to cross to another district, not when going to a restaurant in your own district.

RifRaf: Economy bad – government’s fault. Number of Covid-19 cases go up – government’s fault. Not enforcing SOP – really government’s fault.

It’s sad when you go to malls and you see parents towing young children who can barely keep their masks on. Four to a table, you say? Sometimes there are five or more.

People keep to rules when it is of convenience to them. If it inconveniences them, even if it is for the public good, they complain.

I doubt they understand that if the Covid-19 cases keep on rising, it would make it hard for our health providers to cope.

Maybe to get people to understand this is by really enforcing the fines – patrol the malls and high traffic areas. No mercy.

If they are in an eatery, fine the eatery as well. Fine enough eateries, it would make them self-enforce in future.

I know the police cannot be everywhere, but I do know there will be disgusted citizens who see people break the simple SOPs wantonly.

It’s not that hard to wear a mask properly or to scan a QR code before you enter a place even if it’s for a few minutes.

Even the two-person rule is doable for most. Encourage citizen policing. Instead of taking a selfie, take a photo of the people breaking SOPs. Tag the location and time.

Even if the police can’t find them, they can summon the establishment. To be fair, fine the mall as well for letting these SOP breakers in. Again, this will encourage establishments to self-police.

When you truly enforce the rules and instil fear, only then will these people follow the SOPs. They still won’t understand why, but at least they will grudgingly follow.

Anonymous112233: Because the SOPs are not clear, the people are struggling to interpret as best as they can.

Instead of being sympathetic and trying to educate the people so we fight the Covid-19 pandemic together, now the people are being blamed. Please be fair.

The problem starts with the SOPs, where people don’t know how to comply; it is not that they don’t want to. Have a heart, please.

Johanian2: Yes, make it simple for the rakyat. Since four are allowed to dine in a restaurant at the same table, allow four from the same family per car. Why keep giving different signals?

It seems that authorities are unable to simplify the situation. The rakyat are confused, leading to a trust deficit in the authorities.

Doc: Let me guess, one person sits in the front (driver), one person sits at the back seat and one person in the car boot.

Anyway, everyone should hold on to their pants. Knowing the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government, by tonight there will be a U-turn on this ‘three person per vehicle’ decision.

Anonymous_4118: The Covid-19 virus is very smart. It only attacks if there is an even number in the car.

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Source : From https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/550964