High daily deaths due to backlog, says Khairy

 By Olivia Miwil - September 6, 2021 @ 4:27pm

This Sept 4 pic shows Seberang Perai Utara District Health Department and Civil Defence Force personnel handling a funeral of a Covid-19 victim at Bagan Dalam Muslim Cemetery in Penang. -NSTP/DANIAL SAAD

KOTA KINABALU: Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin in responding to the high number of Covid-19 fatalities in states with high vaccination rates such as Sarawak and Selangor, said this was due to "fatality backlog".

On that note, he said the Klang Valley should begin seeing a reduction in Covid-19 fatalities in two to three weeks.

Speaking to reporters here, he said that the daily numbers did not reflect deaths that occurred within 24 hours.

"For the Klang Valley, we will start to see a reduction of deaths in two to three weeks, once we clear the fatality backlog. We will reveal on Wednesday a new set of data (on fatalities).

"There is a long backlog of death cases as we need to confirm the deceased really died due to Covid-19. These deaths did not happen over 24 hours."

On the brought-in-dead (BID) cases, he said most of them did not go for testing so they were not placed under healthcare facilities' surveillance.

"Most of these cases involved those who were not under the Health Ministry or its (healthcare) facilities' cares. We want to ensure they get referenced and placed under our care.

"If they are under home quarantine, they should do observation and upload their health status. When they display symptoms, (by updating via the system), then we can do intervention," he added.

Khairy also said for those who were not under surveillance, which also included those in Sabah where BID cases were among the immigrants, the community leaders and society should look after each other and encourage infected people to seek treatment at the nearest clinics.