By Ling Hui
KUCHING, Feb 1: Covid-19 cases in January, 2021 alone is almost three times the total number of infections in the entire year of 2020 since the pandemic started last March.
State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) advisor Datuk Seri Dr Sim Kui Hian revealed that there were some 3,200 new cases reported in the first month of this year and 1,115 cases in 2020.
According to previous SDMC reports, the cumulative number of Covid-19 cases as of Dec 31, 2020 stood at 1,117 and 4,450 on Jan 31, 2021.
So, there was a sharp increase of 3,333 cases in the month of January this year.
For fatality cases, Dr Sim calculated a total of 29 deaths in the last one month as compared to the original 19 cases in the 10 Covid-19 months of 2020.
Out of the 29 in January, 19 were deaths directly related to the Coronavirus and another 10 were non Covid-19 fatality cases.
With these figures, the Minister of Local Government and Housing said 2021 truly had a ‘dramatic’ start.
“2021 truly started with a ‘bang’. What a January, this is war time. Together we shall fight to win,” he urged in his daily Facebook post on the dreaded pandemic.
Adding on, he noted 186 Covid-19 patients have been discharged from hospitals and Quarantine and Low-Risk Treatment Centres (PKRC) across the state, but 135 were admitted at the same time.
As of yesterday (Jan 31), there were 1,703 individuals who are still receiving treatment in various hospitals and PKRCs in the state.
Sibu Hospital and PKRCs are currently attending to the most number of 994 patients. Miri Hospital has 293 patients, Sarawak General Hospital (171), Bintulu Hospital (121), Kapit Hospital and PKRC (93), Sarikei Hospital (26), Limbang Hospital (4) and Sipitang PKRC (1). — DayakDaily
