He said the latest development would enable the country to achieve herd immunity in the near future and, subsequently, return to normality.
“Daily vaccination (in Malaysia) lately has consistently reached 250,000 doses of vaccine jabs per day and is targeted to reach 300,000 doses of vaccine jabs a day from this month,” he said in a statement today.
Yesterday, a total of 324,745 doses of Covid-19 vaccine doses were administered, taking the total number of vaccine jabs administered nationwide to 11,075,493 doses.
He also urged the public to continue to practise “self lockdown” by staying at home and to only go out if necessary, as well as to comply with the stipulated SOPs to reduce the spread of infections within the community.
Ismail said the World Health Organisation (WHO) had, through its technical committee in a recent media conference, released an analysis of the latest data findings on Covid-19 cases worldwide.
“In Africa, the rate of Covid-19 infection has risen to 16.7%, while in the eastern Mediterranean area it was 16.4%.
“The analysis of countries in Europe also recorded a 33% increase in infection rate and 8.6% in parts of Southeast Asia,” he said.
The increase is due to several key factors, including the detection of new variants that have a more serious impact on individuals and spread faster than normal infections.
Vaccinations for 15,000 Orang Asli
Some 15,000 members of the Orang Asli community have received their vaccinations, while 38,000 more are waiting for appointment dates, deputy rural development minister Abdul Rahman Mohamad said in Gua Musang.
He said the high number is a result of various campaigns carried out in Orang Asli settlements by government departments and agencies.
Pos Blau village chief Salleh Angah said that during the early days, not many people from his community, out of fear, wanted to sign up for vaccination.
He said the problem was compounded by unverified news spread within the community about the vaccine that made it harder for community leaders to convince them.
“They, however, have begun to be aware of its importance and have started registering their names for the vaccine,” he said.
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