In a tweet by the Ministry of Health, today (25 January 2021) marks the first anniversary of case #1 recorded in Malaysia. The case is an imported case where a group of tourists from Wuhan, China entered the country (Johor) from Singapore. That marks the start of the first wave of Covid-19 in our nation. The first locally transmitted case was recorded on 6 February.
Hari ini genap setahun kes pertama #COVID19 dilaporkan di Malaysia yang melibatkan kes import.
Pada 6 Feb 2020, kes jangkitan tempatan yang pertama melibatkan seorang wanita tempatan di Kedah. #Malaysia #JagaNegaraKita??
— KKMalaysia?? (@KKMPutrajaya) January 25, 2021
The second wave is believed to have been a result of a religious gathering that was held at the Sri Petaling mosque from 27 February to 1 March 2020. As a result of that gathering, 17 subclusters were born, spanning across seven states. In the main cluster alone, 42,023 people were tested for Covid-19, and out of the total number, 3,375 of them were positive while 34 people passed away due to the virus. The cluster was announced to have ended on 8 July 2020.
On 8 July 2020, we were rewarded with the best news possible ever since the pandemic struck our country, we recorded zero cases by local transmission.
The numbers fluctuated between single and double digits (due to the Benteng cluster) until the weeks leading up to the 2020 Sabah Elections where many people flew back and forth from West to East Malaysia and vice versa. Peninsular politicians flew to Sabah to campaign and several of them tested positive when they came back to West Malaysia. From then on, Malaysia constantly recorded three-digit cases per day with many of them in Sabah and subsequently in other West Malaysian states such as KL and Selangor. Sarawak was not really affected as they had tightened their border control on 14 October.
The numbers never stopped increasing and unfortunately, this is the reality that we live in right now. On 23 January 2021, we recorded 4,275 cases in a single day and the number of accumulated cases up until now is about 180,000 cases. Based on this existing trend, in just a few more days, we will reach 200,000 cases.
Dr. Noor Hisham has taken to Twitter to express his thoughts.
“It saddens me that we have endured 1 year of fighting against Covid-19. The end is nowhere near to be seen.”
Despite both the physical and mental fatigue that this pandemic has brought on to us, Health Director-General urges everyone to soldier on to break the chain of infection.
It saddens me that we have endured 1 year of fighting against Covid-19. The end is nowhere near to be seen. However despite the mental & physical fatigue, we all need to soldier on. Everyone, no matter who u are, must shoulder this responsibility to save our country together 1/2 pic.twitter.com/iMZbI7L2Tg
— Noor Hisham Abdullah (@DGHisham) January 25, 2021
Please stay at home and only go out when necessary. We have done it once and we can do it again.
Also read: “I’m losing my 20s to a pandemic” Malaysian Youth Share Their Worries About The Future
