COVIDNow: New data set shows which specific age groups are vulnerable to new COVID-19 infections and deaths

Malaysia’s COVID-19 dashboard, COVIDNow, has been updated to provide more granular data on the COVID-19 cases and deaths in the country. This provides an even clearer view of the trend and the actual number of cases and deaths due to COVID-19 in specific age groups.

View Malaysia’s COVID-19 cases and deaths by age groups

In the cases section, you can view “Cases by Age Group” up to 24 weeks ago. You can view based on percentage, absolute number, or the number of cases per 100,000 population. The table also comes with coloured cells to provide a heatmap of the most at-risk age group.

By default, the table will show national data and you can narrow it down to specific states by using the dropdown menu for desktop or tapping on the floating icon on the mobile view. The breakdown table by age group is also available for COVID-19 deaths.

Based on the illustrated trend, over 40% of new COVID-19 cases are from younger adults aged between 18-39 years old while the percentage of deaths among this age group has dropped to less than 10% (9 weeks ago) after most adults have been fully vaccinated. During the massive surge sometime in August (15 weeks ago), the 50-59 age group had the highest number of COVID-19 deaths, followed by 40-49 and 60-69.

Despite having 15% of COVID-19 cases involving senior citizens (aged 60 years old and above), this age group contributes 75% of total new deaths for the past few weeks. As senior citizens have a higher risk of getting severe illnesses due to COVID-19, it is recommended to conduct a COVID-19 self-test before travelling back to home towns.

The Ministry of Health has also raised alarm bells that COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness wanes over time and they are recommending booster shots with priority given to senior citizens and people with comorbidities. The programme has been extended to adults aged 40 years old and above, as well as individuals who need to travel abroad for Umrah, work or studies.

At the moment, the booster shot programme is currently underway with Pfizer shots given to eligible individuals who have been fully vaccinated with Pfizer (6 months after second dose) or Sinovac (3 months after second dose) vaccines. You can also register yourself on the waiting list at private healthcare facilities under ProtectHealth.

Current Active COVID-19 Clusters

Besides showing the age group breakdown, COVIDNow has also included a table to show all active clusters in the country. The data can be sorted based on the columns and you can filter the data by state.

Malaysia’s total COVID-19 deaths crosses 30,000 mark

As of 21st November, Malaysia has recorded a total of 2,586,601 cases and 30,002 deaths since the start of the pandemic. In the past week, the number of new cases has been hovering around the 4,800-6,000 mark while the number of new COVID-19 deaths has been slowly declining below 60 per day. Malaysia has been recording over 100,000 COVID-19 tests daily and the positivity rate is below 5% since the last week of October 2021.

You can view the full details on the COVIDNow dashboard. Alternatively, you can also check out the raw data on Github.

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