70 pregnant women have died from Covid-19 complications — MOH

KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 12): Seventy pregnant women across Malaysia have to date died of complications from the coronavirus, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said.

"For 2021, the average number of Covid-19 cases [among pregnant women] for January 2021 to May 2021 was two per month," MOH director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah (pictured) said yesterday.

"However, there has been a sharp increase in deaths reported since June 2021, which is 17 deaths. Data showed two cases out of that total had received their first dose of the vaccine, while the remaining 15 deaths were unvaccinated," he said in a statement.

He added that 47% of the deaths comprised those that had comorbidities.

As for the total number of pregnant women that tested positive for Covid-19, Dr Noor Hisham said 3,396 cases were reported between March 2020 and June 2021.

He said an increase in cases among pregnant women began in October 2020 with an average of 200 infections a month.

The number of Covid-19 cases among pregnant women surged to 850 in May 2021, and to 899 last month, said Dr Noor Hisham, adding that the spike was in line with the surge in daily Covid-19 infections nationwide.

"As of Aug 8, 2021, a total of 146,759 pregnant mothers had registered on the MySejahtera application for the Covid-19 vaccines.

"Of the total, 83,251 (57%) of pregnant women had received at least one dose of vaccine, while 20% were fully inoculated," said the director-general.

He also highlighted that the percentage of registration among pregnant women via MySejahtera is still low at 40%.

"As pregnant mothers are also considered as a high-risk group, preventive measures are important to prevent them from being infected.

"The Ministry of Health urges all pregnant mothers to get vaccinated to reduce the risk of complications from Covid-19 infections," said Dr Noor Hisham.

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