Covid-19: Putrajaya, Rembau, Jasin now red zones; Lembah Pantai still top red zone for fourth day running

KUALA LUMPUR, April 7 — The districts of Putrajaya, Rembau in Negri Sembilan and Jasin in Melaka are now red zones, or Covid-19 hotspots, with at least 41 cases each, the latest data released today by the Health Ministry showed.

With the addition of these three districts, Malaysia now has a total of 21 red zones or districts in the most severe category, based on the Health Ministry's maps showing the status of districts as of April 6 noon.

The three new red zones

These three districts were initially categorised as orange zones, which is just one category below the red zone.

Putrajaya crossed over to the red zone when its total tally of Covid-19 cases increased from 37 on April 5 to 41 on April 6, while Rembau which had a cumulative total of 40 cases on April 5 tipped over to 41 cases the next day.

Melaka now has its first red zone with Jasin, which became the first of Melaka's three districts to be recategorised from an orange zone to a red zone, when its tally increased from 38 cases on April 5 to 42 cases on April 6.

Top red zone is in KL again

For the fourth consecutive day, the Lembah Pantai district in Kuala Lumpur is the district with the highest number of Covid-19 cases recorded so far, with a total cumulative tally of 386 cases as of April 6 noon.

The Lembah Pantai district was also the nation's top red zone on April 3 with 322 cases, on April 4 with 367 cases, and on April 5 with 376 cases.

The distribution of Covid-19 cases in Kuala Lumpur is shown according to four districts, which share the same names as some of the 11 parliamentary constituencies in Kuala Lumpur.

In the latest data as of April 6 noon, the number of Covid-19 cases in the 21 red zones nationwide or the 21 districts with at least 41 cases each are: Lembah Pantai (386), Hulu Langat (324), Petaling (296), Kuching (174), Kluang (170), Seremban (162), Johor Bahru (145), Kepong (116), Klang (112), Gombak (110), Titiwangsa (93), Kinta (87), Kota Bahru (82), Tawau (67), Hilir Perak (65), Jerantut (61), Batu Pahat (47), Cheras (45), Jasin (42), Putrajaya (41), and Rembau (41).

These 21 red zones alone account for a total of 2,666 Covid-19 cases.

In other words, about 70 per cent of the 3,793 Covid-19 cases detected in Malaysia as of April 6 have been recorded in just these 21 red zones. The percentage of cases contributed by red zones to Malaysia's overall tally has been increasing in tandem with the increase in the number of red zones.

No new orange zones

According to the definition in the Health Ministry's maps, an orange zone is a district where 20 to 40 Covid-19 cases have been recorded so far.

The number of orange zones in the country is now down to 19 as of April 6, due to three districts being recatogrised as red zones as they crossed the 41-case threshold.

As of April 6 noon, the number of cases in Malaysia's 19 districts that are Covid-19 orange zones are: Sepang (39), Lahad Datu (38), Seberang Perai Tengah (37), Kuantan (36), Kota Samarahan (36), Kota Kinabalu (34), Kuala Muda (33), Melaka Tengah (32), Kuala Selangor (30), Muar (30), Besut (29), Timur Laut (27), Dungun (27), Hulu Selangor (27), Alor Gajah (25), Kulai (24), Kota Setar (24), Pekan (23) and Kuala Langat (22).

Orange zones can sometimes easily tip over to become a red zone, as seen in the three new districts that were recognised as red zones once they recorded at least 41 Covid-19 cases.

Being designated as a red zone does not, however, mean that the entire district would have more restrictions of movement by the government to curb the spread of Covid-19, as the government has chosen to implement a more focused approach.

After narrowing down the cases in red zones to selected villages or even buildings where a very high concentration of Covid-19 cases have been detected, tighter controls will be imposed to enable the health authorities to carry out active door-to-door Covid-19 detection activities.

So far, the government has issued three enhanced movement control of orders (EMCO) on two villages in Simpang Renggam in the red zone of Kluang in Johor, seven villages in the red zone of Hulu Langat, and a condominium in Kuala Lumpur.

The final 29

In the Health Ministry's maps of the distribution of cases nationwide according to district, a green zone is a district where no Covid-19 cases have been recorded.

In the first batch of data released by the Health Ministry, Malaysia had a total of 39 districts in seven states on March 25 that had zero Covid-19 cases.

In the days that followed, the number of green zones continued to go down, but remained steady at 31 districts from April 1 to April 4, before decreasing to 30 districts on April 5.

The number of green zones in Malaysia has now gone down to 29 districts as of April 6, as Sabah lost one green zone on this day when Keningau was listed as recording one case.

The 29 green zones are spread out over six states: including one district each in four states in peninsular Malaysia, eight districts in Sabah and 17 districts in Sarawak.

The Health Ministry is seeking to empower communities living in green zones to protect their areas and maintain their green zone status by taking various actions.

The steps that communities in green zones are encouraged to take include limiting and recording the entry and exit of visitors and local residents, reporting to the community leader or police when group activities are detected, mobilising the existing residents’ committee as a coordinator for Covid-19 prevention activities in the community, and reporting any suspected Covid-19 cases to authorities.

Malaysia is currently under a movement control order (MCO) nationwide, which Health Director-General Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah yesterday said was aimed at reducing the number of Covid-19 infections and preventing exponential spike in cases by having Malaysians stay at home.

For the first time since the MCO has been imposed, the daily number of new recoveries yesterday exceeded the daily number of new Covid-19 cases, with 236 patients discharged yesterday as compared to 131 new Covid-19 cases.

As of yesterday noon, the total number of cases recorded so far in Malaysia stands at 3,793, with the death toll at 62

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