Clinical wastes increase in 2021 due to COVID-19 cases

The movement of people is restricted and only a handful of industries classified as essential are allowed to operate contributed to the decrease in the  number of road accidents for two consecutive years. The number of road accidents declined 11.5 per cent, a drop of 47,951 cases as compared to 2020 (2021: 370,286 cases). In addition, 4,539 deaths were recorded in 2021 due to road accidents as compared to 4,634 deaths in the previous year. Selangor recorded the highest number of road accidents with 108,564 cases followed by Johor and W.P. Kuala Lumpur with 49,559 and 40,237 cases, respectively.

The sharp increase in COVID-19 cases have direct impact on the quantity of clinical wastes by 43.9 per cent to record 57.4 thousand metric tonnes in 2021 as compared to 39.9 thousand metric tonnes in 2020. Three states recorded the largest amount of clinical wastes include Selangor (13.0 thousand metric tonnes), Sarawak (8.3 thousand metric tonnes) and W.P. Kuala Lumpur (5.9 thousand metric tonnes).

Malaysia is also prone to natural disasters such as floods, landslide and haze. The number of victims of disaster increase to 208,643 in 2021 (2020: 35,376) and the number of Temporary Evacuation Centers rose more than three fold in 2021 to 1,778 (2020: 510). Floods are one of the natural disasters that often occur which caused heavy losses and casualties. It often happens during the North East Monsoon season from November till March every year.

On that note, the climate change has caused the pattern of natural disasters to change, either worsening or occurring in unexpected places. The number of flood incidents reported in 2021 was 1,057 (2020: 869) in which Sarawak recorded the highest number of flood incidents at 270. This was followed by Selangor (120) and Perak (119).

The full publication of the Environment Statistics 2022 can be downloaded through eStatistik portal. 

Released by:
DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS MALAYSIA
15 December 2022