Ong Kian Ming thanked Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin for clarifying the matter with the full statistics of Covid-19 deaths by race. — Picture by Shafwan Zaidon
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 12 — DAP federal lawmaker Ong Kian Ming apologised today for erroneously assuming the “Others” category in the racial breakdown of Malaysia’s Covid-19 deaths were primarily foreigners.
He thanked Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin for clarifying the matter with the full statistics of Covid-19 deaths by race.
“Update reply from @KKMPutrajaya on the racial breakdown of the Covid-19 deaths in 2020 & 2021. Apologies for assuming that the ‘lain-lain’ (others) category was mostly non-Malaysians.
“Thanks to @Khairykj for the updated reply,” he said on his Twitter today.
In the tweet cited, the Health Ministry revealed that from January 1 until October 3 this year, Malays recorded the most deaths due to Covid-19, at 13,772 or 52.5 per cent of the total.
This was followed by the Chinese (4,753), non-Malaysians (3,305), Indians (2,502), Sabah Bumiputra (1,229), Sarawak Bumiputera (598), and indigenous people (53).
For last year, the Sabah Bumiputera group topped the list for most deaths due to Covid-19 with 172 or 37 per cent of the total, followed by Malays (122), non-Malaysians (80), Chinese (66), Indians (18), and Sarawak Bumiputera (13).
Earlier today, the Health Ministry reported another 93 deaths from Covid-19, with 16 of them brought in dead.
The country’s cumulative Covid-19 fatalities are now at 27,422 since the pandemic began.