KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry today expressed grave concern over the spike in Covid-19 cases which could be traced back to the Hari Raya Aidilfitri and Hari Gawai celebrations.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the ministry detected 60 Covid-19 "festival clusters" from May 13 to June 10.
From that, he said 58 clusters involved the Aidilfitri celebrations while the remaining two clusters were linked to Gawai festivities.
"A total of 13,023 people were screened in these (festival) clusters from which 3,511 Covid-19 cases were identified with a positive rate of 27 per cent.
"Of the 3,511 cases, 20 deaths have been reported and to date, 11 patients are still under treatment in Intensive Care Units (ICU)," he said in a statement.
States which recorded the highest number of festive clusters were Sabah with 11 clusters (18.3 per cent), Sarawak with eight clusters (13.3 per cent), and Kedah with seven clusters (11.7 per cent).
"This situation of increasing cases and deaths linked to festive clusters is considered serious and worrying as it occurred within a short period of time.
"If people are still complacent and do not learn from past lessons of visits and interstate travels during the festive season (which led to a spike in infections), it is not impossible for a sudden increase in cases to recur in our country.
"It is the responsibility of all parties to protect the vulnerable, especially sick parents in the hometown by not exposing them to the SARS-CoV-2 virus infection."
Dr Noor Hisham said Malaysia should emulate neighbouring countries that have managed to control the Covid-19 pandemic situation well in their countries.
"They have proven that with cooperation between all parties and high adherence to the standard operating procedures (SOP) outlined, returning to normality can become a reality.
"Therefore, Malaysians are urged to stay at home if there is no urgent need to be outside. Register yourself and your family members to get the Covid-19 vaccine to develop herd immunity and in turn, create a safer environment for all walks of life."