He said the health ministry has stepped up screenings especially for those who arrived from countries where new virus variants are present.

“The hybrid variant of Indian and UK variants has been reported in Vietnam, but not in other countries (including Malaysia). We have to tighten border control and screening to stop the entry of this new variant,” he told the press today.

The new variant is reported to be highly infectious.

Noor Hisham said the two-week national lockdown from June 1 would allow health workers to rest and provide time for the ministry to restore hospital facilities and carry out better public health action.

He said the lockdown was needed in view of the ministry’s forecast that daily infections would reach 13,000 cases a day by June 14.

“That’s why, with this projection, we have to implement a total lockdown to ensure there is no movement and assemblies,” he said.

Noor Hisham added that the Covid-19 case projection during the lockdown period would only be obtained after seven days.

Screening tests up by 30%

Noor Hisham said there was an increase of 30.2% in the number of screening tests in the past week. The number rose sharply from an average of 63,925 tests before May 14 to 91,608 tests from May 23 to May 29.

The use of Rapid Test Kit Antigen (RTK-Ag) tests had helped detect the disease faster and in greater numbers, he said. Outsourcing screening tests to private labs had also contributed to increased testing and detection.

85% of hospital Covid-19 beds in use

He said 65% of the 27,183 beds at Covid-19 quarantine and treatment centres are in use, while 85% of the 10,190 beds at Covid-19 hospitals are in use.

However, occupancy of Covid-19 ICU beds had reached 104%, while beds for general patients were at 88% occupancy. In addition, 60% of the 2,318 ventilators are in use, with Covid-19 patients using 39%.

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