KELANTAN, Terengganu, Pahang, Perak and Perlis have met all three indicators required to move to Phase 2 of the national recovery plan (NRP) and will do so on July 5, said Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz.

The finance minister said the decision was made based on the average number of daily cases according to the state’s population, the capacity of beds in the intensive care units (ICU) and the number of people in the state that have been vaccinated.

“It’s fairer, especially to the state governments that have worked hard to fulfil all three indicators,” said Tengku Zafrul at a joint press conference with senior minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob at Putrajaya today.

The NRP was announced by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin on June 15.

According to the plan, the country will reopen in four phases based on three indicators, the number of daily Covid-19 cases, the number of people who are fully vaccinated and the state of the healthcare system, which must no longer be critical.

Muhyiddin had said Malaysia would only transition into Phase 2 once the average number of cases drops to 4,000 a day, the health system is no longer at a critical level and Intensive Care Unit (ICU) bed use is reduced to a moderate level and 10% of the population is vaccinated.

Under Phase 3, he said, the number of daily cases must be below 2,000, 40% of the population vaccinated and the health system is at a manageable level.

In Phase 4, he said daily cases must be below 500, 60% of the population vaccinated, and the health system at a safe level.

Tengku Zafrul said the new daily case indicators for all states to move on to Phase 2 is calculated by dividing the state’s population with the total population and multiplying it by 4,000 cases for Phase 2.

The daily case threshold for the past seven days in Kelantan is 123, Terengganu (29), Pahang (205), Perak (203) and Perlis (2).

ICU usage in Kelantan and Pahang is at a “moderate’ level while in Terengganu, Perak and Perlis it is “adequate”.

All five states have also fully vaccinated more than 10% of the population.

Kelantan has fully vaccinated 11.5% of its population, Terengganu (11.2%), Pahang (12.1%), Perak (11.8%) and Perlis (23.5%).

Zafrul added that the lockdown, which has been in place for more than a month, has also been successful with some states recording a sharp decline in Covid-19 infections.

“Kelantan and Terengganu have shown more than 80% decline in cases since June 1,” he said.

Kuala Lumpur was at the bottom of the list, recording only a 14% decline in the number of cases.

Zafrul said the Klang Valley now contributes to close to 50% of Covid-19 cases. – July 3, 2021.