Description of the COVID-19 epidemiology in Malaysia

Nadzri, Mohamad Nadzmi Md and Zamri, Ahmed Syahmi Syafiq Md and Singh, Sarbhan and Sumarni, Mohd Ghazali and Lai, Chee Herng and Tan, Cia Vei and Aris, Tahir and Ibrahim, Hishamshah Mohd and Gill, Balvinder Singh and Ghazali, Nur'Ain Mohd and Md Iderus, Nuur Hafizah and Lim, Mei Cheng and Ahmad, Lonny Chen Rong Qi and Kamarudin, Mohd Kamarulariffin and Ahmad, Nur Ar Rabiah and Tee, Kok Keng and Zulkifli, Asrul Anuar (2024) Description of the COVID-19 epidemiology in Malaysia. Frontiers in Public Health, 12. p. 1289622. ISSN 2296-2565, DOI https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2024.1289622.

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2024.1289622

Abstract

Introduction Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, it has spread rapidly across the world and has resulted in recurrent outbreaks. This study aims to describe the COVID-19 epidemiology in terms of COVID-19 cases, deaths, ICU admissions, ventilator requirements, testing, incidence rate, death rate, case fatality rate (CFR) and test positivity rate for each outbreak from the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 till endemicity of COVID-19 in 2022 in Malaysia.Methods Data was sourced from the GitHub repository and the Ministry of Health's official COVID-19 website. The study period was from the beginning of the outbreak in Malaysia, which began during Epidemiological Week (Ep Wk) 4 in 2020, to the last Ep Wk 18 in 2022. Data were aggregated by Ep Wk and analyzed in terms of COVID-19 cases, deaths, ICU admissions, ventilator requirements, testing, incidence rate, death rate, case fatality rate (CFR) and test positivity rate by years (2020 and 2022) and for each outbreak of COVID-19.Results A total of 4,456,736 cases, 35,579 deaths and 58,906,954 COVID-19 tests were reported for the period from 2020 to 2022. The COVID-19 incidence rate, death rate, CFR and test positivity rate were reported at 1.085 and 0.009 per 1,000 populations, 0.80 and 7.57%, respectively, for the period from 2020 to 2022. Higher cases, deaths, testing, incidence/death rate, CFR and test positivity rates were reported in 2021 and during the Delta outbreak. This is evident by the highest number of COVID-19 cases, ICU admissions, ventilatory requirements and deaths observed during the Delta outbreak.Conclusion The Delta outbreak was the most severe compared to other outbreaks in Malaysia's study period. In addition, this study provides evidence that outbreaks of COVID-19, which are caused by highly virulent and transmissible variants, tend to be more severe and devastating if these outbreaks are not controlled early on. Therefore, close monitoring of key epidemiological indicators, as reported in this study, is essential in the control and management of future COVID-19 outbreaks in Malaysia.

Item Type: Article
Funders: UNSPECIFIED
Uncontrolled Keywords: COVID-19; epidemiology; outbreak; variant; Cases
Subjects: R Medicine > R Medicine (General)
R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine
Divisions: Faculty of Medicine > Medical Microbiology Department
Depositing User: Ms. Juhaida Abd Rahim
Date Deposited: 22 Oct 2024 04:53
Last Modified: 22 Oct 2024 04:53
URI: http://eprints.um.edu.my/id/eprint/45445

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