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Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has said he expects more than half of the Malaysian population to complete their COVID-19 vaccinations by 31 August this year

Speaking to New Straits Times yesterday, 25 August, he said this over 50% threshold is possible when considering our current vaccination rates.

“When we focused on the Klang Valley with Operation Surge Capacity, the daily cases reported (there) then was almost 70% of the whole country,” Noor Hisham said.

He said that since the operation started on 17 July, results started showing within four to five weeks, with hospitalisations reducing dramatically in the capital region.

The number of new cases in the Klang Valley now accounts for roughly a third of the country’s total caseload.

On 25 August, Kuala Lumpur and Selangor accounted for 7,453 out of 22,642 of the new COVID-19 cases, or 32.9% of the total.

Image via Bernama/Berita Harian

To achieve this 50% threshold, he says that the health authorities will intensify efforts in other states to beat back the overall number of cases

Noor Hisham says that these efforts are ongoing, especially in the hard-hit states of Johor, Penang, Perak, Kedah, Sabah, and Sarawak.

All of these states have seen a rapid surge of new COVID-19 cases, which has overwhelmed their healthcare facilities.

According to Bernama, the surge is due to low compliance to the standard operating procedures (SOPs), among other factors.

For example in Sarawak, the state Health director Dr Mohamed Sapian said outbreaks were largely identified from social activities and family gatherings.

In Penang, it was reported that over 70% of COVID-19 cases in the state involved factory workers, with the surge shuttering many public services.

Image via Sayuti Zainudin/Malay Mail via Yahoo! News

Previously, Noor Hisham said the directive to stop general practitioners (GPs) from administering vaccines was done against his wishes

In a report by Malay Mail on 22 August, the Health director-general made this refutal in response to Klang member of Parliament (MP) Charles Santiago on Twitter.

Charles had questioned the COVID-19 Immunisation Task Force’s decision to halt vaccine appointments at 741 private healthcare providers nationwide.

“Contrary to my proposal to increase the participation of GPs in the country under PHCorp. I have visited the GP practice myself and (am) happy with the progress made,” wrote Noor Hisham.

In related developments, non-Malaysians in the Klang Valley are now no longer allowed to walk in to receive their COVID-19 vaccinations:

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