Epidemiological trends for dengue, HFMD, and tuberculosis in Malaysia. Charts and data compiled from KKM weekly epidemiological reports and the DOSM open data platform at data.gov.my.
Malaysia's annual dengue caseload has trended sharply upward over the past two decades. Prior to 2014, annual cases rarely exceeded 50,000. The 2015 epidemic — driven by a serotype shift from DENV-1 to DENV-2 against which the population had limited immunity — marked a turning point, with 120,836 cases and 336 deaths. Although cases temporarily declined through 2017–2018, the pattern repeated in 2019 when serotype dynamics again shifted, producing a new record of 130,101 cases.
The COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020–2021 created an artificial suppression of dengue transmission — people staying indoors reduced mosquito-human contact, movement restrictions limited vector dispersal, and enhanced public hygiene awareness contributed to the dramatic drop to just 27,981 cases in 2021. However, this “immunity debt” meant that when population mobility resumed in 2022, the rebound was swift and severe. Cases climbed back to 70,854 in 2022 and accelerated to 123,133 in 2023, approaching the 2019 record, then reached 118,291 cases with 111 deaths in 2024. In 2025, the national caseload fell sharply to 55,399 cases (79 deaths) — less than half the 2024 total — likely reflecting a combination of high accumulated population immunity after two consecutive high-burden years, intensified vector-control campaigns, and a serotype lull. As of 25 Jul 2026, iDengue recorded 49,411 cases and 36 deaths nationally in 2026. This partial-year total was already close to the 55,399 cases reported for all of 2025, but it should not be treated as a final annual projection.
The primary structural drivers behind Malaysia's worsening dengue trajectory are urbanisation (expanding the Aedes habitat), construction activity (creating breeding sites), climate change (extending the warm-wet transmission season and shifting monsoon patterns), and the cyclical emergence of new serotypes against which population immunity is low. Without fundamental changes to urban water management, construction site regulation, and community-level vector control, the long-term trend is expected to continue upward. For household-level interventions, see our dengue prevention guide.
Hand, foot and mouth disease in Malaysia follows a roughly bimodal seasonal pattern, with peaks typically between March–May and September–November coinciding with school term periods when children are concentrated in group care settings. However, the frequency and magnitude of significant outbreaks has increased over the past decade, partly due to the expansion of formal childcare (taska) attendance as more Malaysian families adopt dual-income arrangements.
Malaysia does not publish HFMD case data with the same granularity as dengue data, making precise trend analysis difficult. What is clear from sentinel surveillance is that Enterovirus 71 (EV71) — the serotype most associated with severe neurological complications including encephalitis — continues to circulate alongside the more common but milder Coxsackievirus A6 and A16 strains. Parents selecting childcare facilities should use our childcare health and safety checklist to evaluate hygiene and outbreak response protocols.
Malaysia notifies approximately 25,000–28,000 TB cases annually, placing it among countries with an intermediate TB burden in the Western Pacific region. Unlike dengue, which shows dramatic year-to-year variation, Malaysia's TB notification rate has remained stubbornly stable at around 80–90 cases per 100,000 population per year — indicating that control efforts are preventing escalation but not achieving the sustained decline needed to meet WHO End TB Strategy targets.
The highest TB incidence rates are in Sabah (driven by cross-border population movement and remote community access challenges), Sarawak (rural longhouse settings), and Kuala Lumpur (high-density housing, migrant worker communities). The emergence of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) adds treatment complexity, though Malaysia's MDR-TB rates remain relatively low compared to regional peers. Current state-level case figures and active cluster locations are available on the Cases by State page.
Malaysia officially transitioned from pandemic to endemic status in April 2022, following the achievement of over 80% adult vaccination coverage. Daily case reporting was discontinued in favour of weekly sentinel surveillance at selected healthcare facilities. COVID-19 continues to circulate in Malaysia with periodic wave-like increases associated with new variant emergence, but severity has been substantially reduced by population immunity from both vaccination and natural infection.
The pandemic's most lasting impact on Malaysia's public health infrastructure has been positive — the systems built for COVID-19 surveillance (KKMNOW, enhanced CPRC digital platforms, genomic sequencing capacity) now serve broader disease monitoring functions. The crisis also normalised public health data transparency, with government agencies now publishing more granular epidemiological data than at any previous point. View global COVID-19 and other international health threats on the Global Health Threats page.
Data methodology: Historical annual dengue figures are sourced from published KKM, DOSM and WHO records. The current 2026 national and state totals come directly from iDengue and are reported as of 25 Jul 2026. The state chart uses official cumulative totals from the same validated snapshot. No interpolated weekly series or unsupported HFMD estimate is displayed.