PUTRAJAYA, 17 April 2020:
As the Ministry of Health (MoH) has decided to use the antigen rapid test kit from South Korea, Covid-19 test samples will no longer be sent to the 43 MoH laboratories conducting the screening.
Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said all that was needed were biosafety cabinets and the test could be done at point of care – in clinics or hospitals.
“The sensitivity (rate) we are looking at (for the rapid test) is 84.4% and the specificity rate of 100%,” he said at the daily press conference on Covid-19 here yesterday.
He said MoH would proceed to test the population using the antigen rapid test kit and the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) screening in labs would complement it – in case there were any doubts over the results. Dr Noor Hisham said MoH expects to use the new test kit by next week.
Covid-19 infection rate per 100,000 population in Malaysia is highest among those in the 55-59 and 60-64 age groups, said Dr Noor Hisham.
He said initial statistics showed there were two age groups in the community with the highest number of positive cases compared to people of other age groups, namely 20-24 and 56-59.
“But when the Covid-19 statistics are matched to the population of each age group, it is clear to see the infection rate of Covid-19 per 100,000 Malaysian population was highest among those in the 55-59 and 60-64 age groups.”
He said senior citizens had the highest risk of complications and deaths from Covid-19 infections due to the age factor and chronic illness – which is a global issue faced by all countries affected by the pandemic.
Of the Covid-19 death statistics recorded so far, he said these showed 62.6% of fatalities involved those aged 60 and above.
Looking at the comorbidity factor, 80.7% of the death cases involved those suffering from chronic illnesses – such as diabetes, hypertension, kidney problem, heart and other diseases.
He also emphasised the importance for senior citizens to get immediate treatment, even for mild symptoms like fever, cough, flu or sore throat – as the ability to recover and prognosis for Covid-19 recovery is better with early treatment.
It is the responsibility of family members, for example children or guardians staying with the senior citizens, to ensure they received immediate treatment if they were unwell and make sure they had sufficient supply of medication and kept to their appointment dates.
“If they need any advice, senior citizens as well as members of the public can access the Virtual Health Advisory via the Health Ministry’s portal from 8.30am to 5pm every day.”
He said patients are also encouraged to use the Medicine By Mail service during the Movement Control Order (MCO) period for medicine to be sent directly to them.
About 6% or 315 of the 4,683 Covid-19 patients earlier confirmed in Malaysia are aged below 14, said Dr Noor Hisham.
He said a total of 83 patients were children aged below four years, with a similar number recorded for patients aged between five and nine, while the remaining 149 were aged between 10 and 14.
“If these children are infected together with their father or mother, then they will be placed in the same ward or room. If only the children are infected and the parents want to take care for them, then we will allow.”
Dr Noor Hisham said parents wanting to take care of their Covid-19 positive children were encouraged to wear personal protection equipment.
Commenting further, he said those in the 20-24 age bracket had the highest infection rate with a total of 526 cases, followed by those aged between 25 and 29 (495 cases) and between 56 and 59 (453 cases).
Further, MoH is collaborating with a few non-governmental organisations (NGO) and other government agencies to conduct Covid-19 screening for residents of old folks homes and foreign workers.
Dr Noor Hisham said MoH is working with the Social Welfare Department (JKM) in screening residents of old folks homes, especially the crowded ones, as this age group is among the most vulnerable to the infection.
On foreign workers, he said agencies like UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Medical Relief Society Malaysia (MERCY Malaysia) have stepped forward to help in efforts to trace and screen them.
“We realise that some of the foreign workers are not coming forward, so we have to work together with a few NGOs. We will continue to enhance our services in terms of screening, trace and track, test, isolate and treat them. So far we have not seen a cluster formation among foreign workers.”
He said the ministry had screened 465 foreign workers at the Pasar Borong Selayang and only 3% or 13 of them tested positive for Covid-19.
The ministry would continue to monitor high-risk areas, especially where there is a big population of foreign workers, he added.
– Bernama