LAST month ended with a total of 59,545 COVID-19 cases in Malaysia with a daily average of 1,985 cases. These figures are slightly higher than the 58,506 cases registered in the previous month that averaged 1,887 cases per day.
COVID-19 transmission was at its peak in March this year, with a staggering total of 759,183 cases and averaging 24,490 per day. Mercifully, the number dropped to 246,085 cases in April and averaged 8,203 per day.
In May, the nation heaved a sigh of relief when transmissions dropped to 58,506 cases. The daily average in the last 10 days of May dropped to only 1,701 per day and the trend continued in the first 12 days of June, with a daily average of 1,649 cases.
But from June 13 onwards, daily cases shot up to 2,209 per day, and ended with the highest on June 30 with 2,867 cases. And if this pattern is continued, we may be back to the same level as in January this year, with an average of 3,635 cases per day.
Alarmingly, this is appearing to be likely as Singapore recorded 11,504 COVID-18 cases on June 30, the highest daily number of infections in more than three months, and large number of Malaysians commute to Singapore daily to work or study.
Lest we forget, our daily average rocketed by 16,793 to 20,428 per day in February from 3,635 per day in January. If what happened in January and February were to be repeated in June and July, we will be back to 20,000 or more cases daily next month. – July 1, 2022
YS Chan is Asean Tourism Master Trainer for travel agencies, master trainer for Mesra Malaysia and Travel & Tours Enhancement Course. He is also a tourism and transport industry consultant and writer.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
