PUTRAJAYA – The Health Ministry is considering isolating and quarantining asymptomatic Covid-19 patients, as well as those with mild symptoms, at home, as existing health facilities are increasingly limited following the spike in daily cases.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said so far, the number of active Covid-19 cases is 22,089, fast approaching the ministry’s quarantine capacity of 23,000 to be placed in hospitals, as well as quarantine and low-risk treatment centres.
He said the number of patients who are positive but asymptomatic, as well as those with mild symptoms, has reached 89% to 90% of the overall number of cases.
“The centres are already full, so we have to give priority to cases that do not have suitable places to be quarantined – for example, foreign workers placed at the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang. We are also looking at the criteria to see whether to quarantine positive but asymptomatic cases and those with mild symptoms at home.
Dr Noor Hisham said the delay by health workers to transfer patients from homes to hospitals and treatment centres is due to the high number of daily cases.
On an allegation that patients at Sg Buloh Hospital were discharged without going through a second Covid-19 screening test, he said the 10-day quarantine period is sufficient, as the level of virus infection decreases or disappears after that period.
“Based on data from the World Health Organisation, if we quarantine a patient for 10 days, we can allow the patient to be discharged without conducting tests. If tests are carried out, it may come back as positive, but the infection is reduced or no more.
“Positive results will occur within two to three weeks, or some up to 70 days, but what is important is the infection, whether we can control it. After 10 days, the risk is very low, so we can discharge patients without performing the test.” – Bernama, January 5, 2021
