Over 82,000 children diagnosed with Covid-19 so far

A total of 82,341 children and infants across the country have been diagnosed with Covid-19 so far, Health Minister Dr Adham Baba said today.

He said 19,851 cases involve children below four years of age while 8,237 cases involve children aged five to six, 26,851 cases involve children aged seven to 12 and 27,402 cases involve children aged 13 to 17.

The degree of severity in infection ranges from Category 1 to 3.

“No one is in the ICU,” he said at a joint press conference today on the development of the country’s immunisation exercise with Khairy Jamaluddin, the coordinating minister for the Covid-19 National Immunisation Programme.

He advised parents and guardians to be responsible in protecting this group from infection, such as by not taking children to crowded places.

He said while there is no provision under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 (Act 342) allowing compounds to be issued to parents who take their children to such places, investigation papers can be opened.

He said a total of 774,863 people were screened from May 23 to 29, of which 53,419 tested positive for the virus.

Given the increase in new cases, he said his ministry plans to expand screening exercises using the RTK-Ag test kits with the assistance of state governments.

“The health ministry will increase screening tests for close contacts, especially in the Klang Valley, by creating sampling centres in the community,” he said.

He also said his ministry would increase monitoring of all symptomatic cases receiving treatment at government facilities as well as those with a history of comorbid diseases regardless of age.

He said the death rate for Covid-19 is currently 0.45% or 45 patients out of 10,000 positive cases.