Malaysian Armed Forces and police personnel are seen at one of the roadblocks in Kuantan March 22, 2020. — Bernama pic

KUALA LUMPUR, April 4 — Jerantut is now the first district in Pahang to be categorised as a red zone or a Covid-19 hotspot in the most severe category, while three districts in Selangor and Terengganu have been classified as orange zones which is a category just one step below red zones, the latest data released today by the Health Ministry shows.

The new red zone

With the addition of Jerantut, Malaysia now has a total of 17 red zones or districts where more than 41 Covid-19 cases have been recorded, based on the maps of distribution of Covid-19 cases by district as of April 3 by the Health Ministry.

Jerantut was an orange zone on April 2 with 33 Covid-19 cases, but became classified as a red zone on April 33 when its total tally increased to 41 cases.

Top red zone now in KL, not Selangor

Lembah Pantai in Kuala Lumpur is now the district with the highest number of Covid-19 cases nationwide at 322 cases as of April 3, overtaking Hulu Langat in Selangor as the top red zone.

Hulu Langat was the country's top red zone for four consecutive days from March 30 until April 2.

In the latest data as of April 3, the number of Covid-19 cases in the 17 red zones are: Lembah Pantai (322), Hulu Langat (302), Petaling (292), Kuching (153), Seremban (141), Johor Bahru (136), Kluang (132), Kepong (100), Klang (88), Titiwangsa (84), Kota Bahru (82), Kinta (82), Gombak (76), Tawau (63), Hilir Perak (61), Batu Pahat (48), and Jerantut (41).

These 17 red zones alone account for a total of 2,203 Covid-19 cases.

In other words, 66 per cent of the 3,333 Covid-19 cases detected in Malaysia as of April 3 have been recorded in just these 17 red zones.

Terengganu gets first orange zone

Terengganu now has its first orange zone after the Besut district's total tally of Covid-19 cases increased from 19 cases on April 2 to 24 cases on April 3.

According to the definition in the Health Ministry's maps, an orange zone is a district where there are 20 to 40 Covid-19 cases.

As for Selangor, the addition of two new orange zones means the state is now made up of just orange and red zones — with the exception of the Sabak Bernam district at seven cases.

This matches Selangor's status as the state with the highest number of Covid-19 cases nationwide at 863 cases.

The two districts of Kuala Langat and Hulu Selangor had a total of 18 cases recorded as of April 2, but their respective tallies increased to 20 and 24 on April 3.

With the addition of these three new orange zones and with the loss of Jerantut which was upgraded to be a red zone, the total number of orange zones in Malaysia is now 22.

As of April 3 noon, the number of cases in Malaysia's 22 Covid-19 orange zones are: Cheras (37), Rembau (36), Lahad Datu (36), Seberang Perai Tengah (35), Putrajaya (35), Kuala Muda (32), Kuala Selangor (32), Kota Kinabalu (29), Kuantan (29), Muar (28), Jasin (28), Timur Laut (27), Kota Samarahan (25), Hulu Selangor (24), Besut (24), Melaka Tengah (24), Kulai (24), Kota Setar (23), Pekan (22), Sepang (22), Alor Gajah (21), and Kuala Langat (20).

Why being an orange zone or red zone matters

The significance of being an orange zone is that it sometimes only takes several cases for a district or area to tip over and be recategorised as a red zone, with red zones being districts that have 41 cases and above.

Although being designated as a red zone does not necessarily mean more restrictions of movement by the government to curb the spread of Covid-19, villages or even buildings — with a very high concentration of Covid-19 cases — in red zones can be put under tighter control to enable the government to carry out door-to-door Covid-19 detection activities.

So far the government has issued three enhanced movement control of orders (EMCO) on two villages in Simpang Renggam in the red zone of Kluang in Johor, seven villages in the red zone of Hulu Langat, and a condominium in Kuala Lumpur.

No green zones lost

There has been no change to the number of green zones or districts in Malaysia with zero Covid-19 cases, with the tally still at 31 as of April 3, unchanged since April 1.

The 31 green zones are spread out over six states: including one district each in four states in peninsular Malaysia, nine districts in Sabah and 18 districts in Sarawak.

Originally, however, in the first batch of data released by the Health Ministry, Malaysia had a total of 39 districts in seven states on March 25 that had zero Covid-19 cases.

As of April 3, the total cumulative tally of Covid-19 cases in Malaysia is 3,333, and the death toll stands at 53.