Daily Covid cases below 500 since China reopened borders, says health minister

Malaysia’s daily Covid-19 cases have remained below 500 since China reopened its borders on Jan 8, says Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa.

In a statement today, she said the country had recorded three-digit daily cases since Dec 17 last year.

She said according to a report, a total of 28,705 travellers from China arrived in the country between Jan 8 and 17.

So far, she said, only one of the travellers was detected as having a fever during screening. 

"The traveller’s RTK-Ag test results, however, came out negative. No travellers from China have tested positive for Covid-19 at Malaysia’s international entry points so far," she said.

Meanwhile, Zaliha said there had been an increasing trend in the uptake of second booster doses at health facilities across the country over the past two weeks.

On Jan 1, the number of first booster doses administered increased from 49.8% or 16,279,746 doses to 49.9% or 16,292,524 doses.

As for the second booster dose, numbers increased by 2.2% or 733,668 doses compared to 1.9% or 633,941 doses previously.

Zaliha said the health ministry would continue monitoring the development of infections in the country and abroad through information acquired from the World Health Organization as well as cooperation with other Asean countries and China.

"The ministry will ensure that prevention and control measures are continuously implemented," she said.