![]() To put it simply, about 85 people with the coronavirus have died per day on average since the lockdown began on June 1. Its total of more than 830,000 confirmed cases is the highest per million people in Southeast Asia – at least twice the caseload per capita in Indonesia – though lack of testing means that the number is vastly below the real toll.īy official count, over 6,100 people have now died from the coronavirus in Malaysia, of which 55 percent reported during the current “total lockdown” period. On July 10, Malaysia set a new record for the second consecutive day with 9,353 COVID-19 infections. Others who are reeling from burnout and exasperated by the lack of top-level support are calling it quits. Many healthcare workers are suffering from compassion fatigue due to the prolonged stress of dealing with COVID-19. ![]() Several hospitals have converted their parking lots into emergency units to accommodate more patients, stretching exhausted medical workers thin. Another showed bodies of COVID-19 victims being placed in a holding room as morgues overflowed. One video showed at least a dozen patients on metal row chairs sharing oxygen supplies at the emergency department of Tuanku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital in Klang. In recent weeks, pictures and videos of overwhelmed hospitals in the Klang Valley have been shared online. It is quite dire at times.”Īs it turns out, the country’s COVID-19 situation was not getting any better and the misleading toll of confirmed cases had shifted the attention away from a rapidly evolving public health crisis. “The situation has actually turned scarier. “We are seeing young patients being brought in at the most advanced stage of the disease, people in their 30s and 40s being brought in and put on life support machines,” Sim said. Benedict Sim Lim Heng, an infectious disease consultant at Sungai Buloh Hospital – the country’s primary hospital for COVID-19 – said the majority of patients who required critical care were now aged between 40 and 60, with a significant number in their 20s and 30s. ![]() As testing for the virus continued to drop in the weeks after, reports of new cases also decreased, albeit at a slower rate.Īt this point, health experts warned of a rise in COVID-19 hospital admissions involving younger adults who were brought in critically ill with the disease. The first 14 days of the full lockdown brought new infections down to as low as 4,900 amid reduced testing in most states. ![]() Soon after, the nation went into “total lockdown.” Health officials resorted to unconventional measures to cope with the surge in COVID-19 cases and death, which included the deployment of military-built field ICUs and the utilization of shipping containers as makeshift morgues. Healthcare workers in Kuala Lumpur had to turn patients away, given that COVID-19 care takes priority, while in the northern state of Kedah, doctors were left to decide who gets a chance to live due to the state’s limited number of ICU beds.Įnjoying this article? Click here to subscribe for full access. Get briefed on the story of the week, and developing stories to watch across the Asia-Pacific. ![]()
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