Refusal to allow Covid-19 patients with mild symptoms to stay home has helped - DG
CORONAVIRUS | The country has managed to control the local Covid-19 infection rate due to its policy in which all patients positive with the virus are isolated and given treatment by the government healthcare services, said Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
The Health Ministry director-general said this makes the practice employed by Malaysia different from some countries, where only those who show strong symptoms get to be admitted into hospitals.
CORONAVIRUS | The country has managed to control the local Covid-19 infection rate due to its policy in which all patients positive with the virus are isolated and given treatment by the government healthcare services, said Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
The Health Ministry director-general said this makes the practice employed by Malaysia different from some countries, where only those who show strong symptoms get to be admitted into hospitals.
"When we do tests, if a patient is still found positive with the virus, we make sure that they stay in the hospital (until they are cleared of the virus).
"This is different than in other countries. Like in the UK for example, those who are tested positive but show mild symptoms are advised to stay at home.
"But us (Malaysia), when someone is positive, we isolate them at hospitals. This is why 88 percent of the positive cases we have are those who show mild symptoms.
"When monitoring and treatment are given (early), we get a much better outcome," he told a press conference in Putrajaya this evening.
Noor Hisham was responding to questions on whether it is normal for Covid-19 patients in Malaysia to be kept for a lengthy period in hospital for treatment and if MOH has managed to bring down the local infectivity rate of the virus further.
Speaking about the infectivity rate, he told reporters that the infectivity rate of Covid-19 has shown a decrease compared to when the country first started implementing the movement control order (MCO) last month.
"Now after we have done the first and second phase of the MCO, the R0 (R-naught) is decreasing. And more importantly, we are seeing the infectivity coming down," he said.
According to Noor Hisham, the number of active positive cases as of today stands at 2,342, after subtracting cases of those who have fully recovered as well as fatalities.
MOH is aiming to further lower the number and Noor Hisham said they hope that phase three of the MCO that starts today would help bring it down.
"So if we can bring down further, that means the infectivity in the community would be less," he said.
MOH supports stricter control movement enforcement
Meanwhile, Noor Hisham also expressed the ministry's concern over the increasing rate of people who violate the MCO, which has entered its third phase.
He said that the evaluation was made based on enforcement agencies' observation and increasing volume of traffic at major roads.
"Looking at this, MOH welcomes the National Security Council's decision for stricter actions to be taken against those who still do not comply with the order.
"We are hoping to get a positive impact (from the third phase of the MCO) to flatten the curve and ensure that MOH facilities are able to cater to cases.
"It is our worry that incompliance with the MCO can derail everybody's hard work (to break the chain of infection)."
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