The following is a timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia during 2023.
Timeline January
Date Cases Recoveries Deaths Current cases Sources New Total New Total New Total Active ICU Ventilators 1 420 5,027,097 547 4,978,369 4 7,854 11,871 30 9 2 360 5,027,457 423 4,978,792 1 36,858 11,807 30 16 3 333 5,027,790 376 4,979,168 1 36,859 11,763 32 20 4 433 5,028,223 500 4,979,668 0 36,859 11,696 31 21 5 571 5,028,794 696 4,980,364 7 36,866 11,564 38 18 6 543 5,029,337 688 4,981,052 4 36,870 11,415 33 14 7 571 5,029,908 551 4,981,603 4 36,874 11,431 34 15 8 405 5,030,313 441 4,982,044 1 36,875 11,394 32 12 9 383 5,030,696 355 4,982,399 8 36,883 11,414 28 11 10 380 5,031,076 373 4,982,772 9 36,892 11,412 26 11 11 367 5,031,443 398 4,983,170 9 36,901 11,372 24 12 12 383 5,031,826 625 4,983,795 4 36,905 11,126 20 8 13 320 5,032,146 506 4,984,301 3 36,908 10,937 17 5 14 287 5,032,433 590 4,984,891 0 36,908 10,634 20 7 15 244 5,032,677 401 4,985,292 0 36,908 10,477 20 9 16 227 5,032,904 367 4,985,659 6 36,914 10,331 21 9 17 350 5,033,254 349 4,986,008 5 36,919 10,327 16 8 18 371 5,033,625 304 4,986,312 4 36,923 10,390 16 14 19 318 5,033,943 331 4,986,643 0 36,923 10,377 19 15 20 285 5,034,228 300 4,986,943 7 36,930 10,355 16 14 21 293 5,034,521 326 4,987,269 2 36,932 10,320 12 10 22 309 5,034,830 292 4,987,561 0 36,932 10,337 13 10 23 142 5,034,972 267 4,987,828 0 36,932 10,212 16 11 24 101 5,035,073 315 4,988,143 0 36,932 9,998 12 10 25 132 5,035,205 346 4,988,489 1 36,933 9,783 11 10 26 172 5,035,377 325 4,988,814 3 36,936 9,627 13 10 27 236 5,035,613 312 4,989,126 2 36,938 9,549 14 11 28 258 5,035,871 309 4,989,435 2 36,490 9,496 17 14 29 269 5,036,140 285 4,989,720 0 36,940 9,480 21 14 30 202 5,036,342 141 4,989,861 2 36,942 9,539 23 12 31 251 5,036,593 0 4,989,861 0 36,942 9,790 15 9
On 3 January, Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa announced several measures to curb rising cases as travel increased including testing all overseas travellers for fever and offering walk-in vaccinations at hospitals and clinics from 9 January.
On 4 January, Sabah's State Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun announced that all travellers from China would have to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and had to present a negative COVID-19 test.
On 10 January, the Ministry of Health confirmed that the Immigration Department would be screening travellers from China for COVID-19 in response to an outbreak in China.
On 12 January, Menteri Besar of Selangor Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari stated that the Selangor state government was considering stepping up COVID-19 prevention measures including contact tracing measures if the number of cases in the state rose. He also encouraged residents to take booster doses. That same day, Dr Mustafa confirmed that Malaysia would not be closing its borders since the COVID-19 situation in the country was under control. However, border screenings would continue.
On 13 January, the states of Sarawak and Kedah began screening the temperatures of travellers entering their borders.
On 27 January, The Star reported that Penang state had only reported a total of 235 new cases between 12 and 25 January 2023. Only one of the state's 92 mukim (or sub-districts) remained a red-zone.
On 29 January, the Ministry of Health confirmed that 9,088 of the 9,480 active cases were undergoing home quarantine. In addition 371 individuals (3.9%) were hospitalised with 21 of these cases undergoing intensive care.
February
Date Cases Recoveries Deaths Current cases Sources New Total New Total New Total Active ICU Ventilators 1 325 5,036,918 113 4,990,079 0 36,942 9,897 14 9 2 324 5,037,242 148 4,990,227 0 36,942 10,073 12 6 3 340 5,037,582 203 4,990,430 0 36,942 10,210 8 5 4 202 5,037,784 275 4,990,705 1 36,943 10,136 6 6 5 211 5,037,995 272 4,990,977 0 36,943 10,075 10 8 6 175 5,038,170 196 4,991,173 1 36,944 10,053 6 5 7 184 5,038,354 253 4,991,426 2 36,946 9,982 4 4 8 189 5,038,543 279 4,991,705 0 36,946 9,892 7 4 9 269 5,038,812 375 4,992,080 0 36,946 9,786 8 4 10 255 5,039,067 306 4,992,386 4 36,950 9,731 12 5 11 259 5,039,326 390 4,992,776 1 36,951 9,599 11 4 12 160 5,039,486 358 4,993,134 0 36,951 9,401 9 4 13 164 5,039,650 254 4,993,388 1 36,952 9,310 11 6 14 200 5,039,850 155 4,993,543 1 36,953 9,354 11 5 15 237 5,040,087 215 4,993,758 1 36,954 9,375 8 4 16 281 5,040,368 257 4,994,015 0 36,954 9,399 8 2 17 241 5,040,609 235 4,994,250 0 36,954 9,405 9 3 18 212 5,040,821 310 4,994,560 1 36,955 9,306 6 3 19 186 5,041,007 158 4,994,718 1 36,956 9,333 7 4 20 167 5,041,174 169 4,994,888 1 36,957 9,330 9 6 21 184 5,041,358 192 4,995,079 0 36,957 9,322 8 6 22 229 5,041,587 227 4,995,306 0 36,957 9,324 8 6 23 224 5,041,811 278 4,995,584 0 36,957 9,270 9 7 24 204 5,042,015 254 4,995,838 0 36,957 9,220 9 6 25 173 5,042,188 219 4,996,057 0 36,957 9,174 12 7 26 207 5,042,395 175 4,996,232 0 36,957 9,206 10 6 27 190 5,042,585 177 4,996,409 0 36,957 9,219 6 3 28 206 5,042,791 176 4,996,585 1 36,958 9,248 7 3
On 10 February, Health Minister Mustafa confirmed that the Health Ministry would establish a task force to write a White Paper on the COVID-19 vaccine procurement practices of previous Malaysian governments.
On 13 February, Director-General of Health Noor Hisham Abdullah confirmed that COVID-19 data would potentially be released on a weekly rather than daily basis from March 2023.
On 16 February, the Sabah state government confirmed that it would change the frequency of its COVID-19 statements from daily updates to weekly updates issued on Monday.
March
Date Cases Recoveries Deaths Current cases Sources New Total New Total New Total Active ICU Ventilators 1 217 5,043,008 233 4,996,818 2 36,960 9,230 7 3 2 244 5,043,252 213 4,997,031 5 36,965 9,256 7 2 3 204 5,043,456 213 4,997,244 0 36,965 9,247 6 1 4 170 5,043,626 178 4,997,422 0 36,965 9,239 4 1 5 164 5,043,790 198 4,997,620 1 36,966 9,204 2 0 6 188 5,043,978 181 4,997,801 0 36,966 9,211 2 0 7 226 5,044,204 202 4,998,003 0 36,966 9,235 4 0 8 235 5,044,439 216 4,998,219 1 36,967 9,253 6 1 9 279 5,044,718 236 4,998,455 0 36,967 9,296 5 1 10 251 5,044,969 197 4,998,652 0 36,967 9,350 6 2 11 223 5,045,192 193 4,998,845 0 36,967 9,380 4 1 18 270 5,047,040 235 5,000,411 3 36,972 9,657 8 4 25 355 5,049,268 257 5,002,242 7 36,979 10,047 11 7
On 4 March, Health Minister Zainal Mustafa confirmed that three COVID-19 cases had been detected among flood victims in the state of Johor and quarantined in hospitals.
On 20 March, the Terrengganu Islamic Religious and Malay Customs Council (Maidam) eliminated facemask requirements for all mosque and surau attendees in the state.
On 29 March, Penang General Hospital infectious diseases unit head Datuk Dr Chow Ting Soo advised high-risk individuals including those with comorbidities to wear face masks to protect against various infectious diseases including the Omicron variant of COVID-19.
April
Date Cases Recoveries Deaths Current cases Sources New Total New Total New Total Active ICU Ventilators 1 599 5,052,337 375 5,004,043 1 36,982 11,312 13 9 8 726 5,056,911 584 5,006,634 16 36,994 13,283 10 4 15 881 5,062,060 760 5,010,543 4 37,000 14,517 14 10 22 562 5,066,877 881 5,015,705 11 37,011 14,161 16 12 29 1,050 5,071,840 600 5,020,529 9 37,020 14,291 29 22
By 6 April, 458 patients had been hospitalised, with 13 in intensive care and 9 on ventilator support.
On 7 April, the Health Ministry approved the use of AstraZeneca's Evusheld 100mg/ml solution for treating COVID-19 patients.
On 11 April, Kedah state's Health and Local Government Committee chairman Datuk Dr Mohd Hayati Othman advised the public to wear masks in public spaces after COVID-19 cases increased by 141.4 percent (or 169 cases) during the first week of the month.
On 14 April, Melaka's State Health director Datuk Dr Rusdi Abd Rahman reported 226 cases at three boarding schools in the state.
On 17 April, in response to rising cases and social gatherings during the Hari Raya Puasa period, several public health experts including Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Prof Dr Sharifa Ezat Wan Puteh, Universiti Malaya Professor Dr Moy Foong Ming, and Malaysian Public Health Physicians Association president Datuk Dr Zainal Ariffin Omar, and Universiti Putra Malaysia medical epidemiologist Assoc Prof Dr Malina Osman advocated various health measures including booster vaccines, mask wearing, and for positive cases to isolate at home.
On 25 April, Health Minister Zainal Mustafa confirmed that the SARS-CoV-2 XBB.1.16 (Arcturus) viral subvariant had arrived in Malaysia. 12 cases were reported; with six in Sarawak, four in Selangor and two in Kuala Lumpur.
On 28 April, Health Minister Zainal encouraged school students to wear face masks when returning to school the following week.
May
Date Cases Recoveries Deaths Current cases Sources New Total New Total New Total Active ICU Ventilators 6 1,110 5,079,436 1,112 5,025,566 0 37,028 16,842 41 24 13 1,205 5,088,009 1,248 5,029,873 18 37,046 21,090 36 25 20 786 5,094,448 1,272 5,038,256 3 37,070 19,122 34 25 27 782 5,100,249 779 5,044,652 1 37,087 18,510 30 24
In early May 2023, the Straits Times reported a fresh wave of cases in Malaysia during the second half of April. By 29 April, the number of hospitalisations had risen by 9.2% to 3,381; the death toll had risen by 25%; and the hospital occupancy rate had risen by 70.3%.
On 8 May, Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa announced that COVID-19 would no longer be considered a public health emergency, citing a recent decision by the World Health Organization's Emergency Committee of the International Health Regulations (2005) on 4 May.
On 16 May, Sabah's Tuaran district was placed back in the "red zone" after recording a spike of 26 cases in the previous week (7 to 13 May).
On 23 May, Sarawak's Deputy Premier Dr Sim Kui Hian announced that the COVID-19 pandemic in his state was declining, citing lower mortality figures in 2023 compared with last year. At the time, Sarawak had reported nine COVID-19 deaths in 2023, with a mortality rate of 0.31 per 100,000 people. In 2022, Sarawak had reported 167 COVID-19 deaths, with a mortality rate of 5.41 per 100,000 people.
June
Date Cases Recoveries Deaths Current cases Sources New Total New Total New Total Active ICU Ventilators 2 569 5,104,772 845 5,050,356 13 37,100 17,316 22 15 10 618 5,108,586 626 5,053,329 10 37,110 18,147 13 7 17 400 5,112,019 630 5,057,145 8 37,118 17,756 15 12 24 341 5,114,717 541 5,061,264 9 37,127 16,326 16 9
On 2 June, Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa confirmed that the Government would revise the COVID-19 Standard Operation Procedure (SOP) in mid-June following the World Health Organization's decision to no longer categorise the disease as a global health emergency.
By 8 June, the Malaysian Government had spent RM4.482 billion on vaccine procurement and logistics.
On 16 June, the Health Minister Dr Zaliha reported that the number of COVID-19 cases had decreased by 15.7% between 4 and 10 June; 3,814 cases compared with 4,523 cases reported in the previous week.
On 29 June, Dr Zaliha announced that the Malaysian Government was eliminating facemask requirements on public transportation and healthcare facilities, and reducing the quarantine period from seven to five days, effective 5 July. This announcement came in response to declining local cases and the World Health Organization declaring that COVID-19 was no longer a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). The Health Minister also extended the status of local "Infectious endemic area" from 30 June to 31 December 2023.
July