Opposition lawmaker, Lim Kit Siang has called out to the Health Minister, Khairy Jamaluddin to explain the differences in the number of Covid-19 deaths reported by the CovidNow and worldometer websites.
He said that he was confused as data from the Health Ministry’s CovidNow website showed 42 new deaths on Saturday (23 October), while Worldometer reported 222 deaths in Malaysia.
“If CovidNow website is right, then we have the lowest number of daily reported deaths in more than five months as on May 13, we recorded 38 Covid-19 deaths.” he said in a statement.
“If the Worldometer website is right about 222 Covid-19 deaths yesterday, Khairy must call for a total revamp of the anti-Covid policy and strategy, for such high Covid-19 death numbers in the eighth week of Khairy as Health Minister only means we are adopting the wrong policy and strategy.” added.
Meanwhile, Lim said this data is rather concerning as the country has just started to reopen its economic sectors.
In addition, the Melaka state election is just around the corner with the polling date being set on 20 November and the official campaigning will begin from 8 November. These dates are slight more than 2 weeks away.
“There is need for greater clarity as to what ‘Living with Covid’ means and this is an area, which the government should communicate more effectively with the people.” Lim said.
The CovidNow website is the Health Ministry’s official portal for Covid-19 data and it is updated daily, with the number of confirmed deaths usually listed at midnight.
However, the death counts also included backlogged cases as and when the ministry investigates and confirms the causes of those who died outside hospitals.
On Saturday (23 October), CovidNow reported a total death toll of 28,354, with 42 lives lost and 10 who were brought-in-dead.
However, the Worldometer, an international website that got its information from each country’s respective Health Ministry or equivalent authority, reported 222 Covid-19 deaths in Malaysia, raising the cumulative death count to 28,534.
