THE number of new Covid-19 cases with serious symptoms will be used as a new indicator for the transition into phases two and three of the national recovery plan (NRP), NRP Coordinating Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz said.

He said that the tally of Covid-19 patients in categories three, four, and five who are admitted into hospitals will be the new measure to determine if states can move into phases two and three of the plan, replacing the previous indicator of new daily infections.

Having reached a vaccination rate of 40% among the adult population, he said the reliance on new infections has become less relevant, as most cases are asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic (categories one and two), effectively reducing the burden on the public health infrastructure.

“However, the vaccination rate, as well as the intensive care unit utilisation rate indicators are still maintained,” he said.

Zafrul, who is also the finance minister, said based on researched data and science, a high vaccination rate is helpful in reducing the number of serious symptomatic cases. 

He said this trend is not only observed overseas, but in Sarawak and Labuan as well.

In line with the change in the key indicator for the transition into phases two and three of the NRP, he said Perlis, Sarawak and Labuan have transitioned to phase three .

“Perlis has already met all the previous threshold values to move to phase three, while Sarawak has already achieved a vaccination rate of 63.7% of the adult population, surpassing the threshold value for phase four (of) the indicator, which is 60%.

“Although the number of Covid-19 cases in Sarawak is more than 300 a day, the number of cases per day identified in categories 3, 4 and 5 (are) less than 10 cases, or 2% of the cases reported,” he said. – Bernama, August 5, 2021.