[ad_1]
PETALING JAYA: In light of the active clusters emerging across the country, experts say Malaysia should consider conducting random Covid-19 testing to identify asymptomatic cases.
Universiti Malaya virologist Dr. Sazaly Abu Bakar said that until Malaysia started conducting more random tests, the country would have to deal with the emergence of new clusters across the country.
He said that while the Health Ministry was still sticking to its previous strategy of conducting selective screenings, it was now necessary to move forward with this game plan.
“Screening is good when fighting a recent introduction in any outbreak. But we’ve reached a point where we need to do more random testing because we don’t know to what extent the virus is present in the community. “In many countries, we can see that the data on asymptomatic cases is quite high. As these people have no symptoms, they will not show up at the hospital and the Ministry of Health will not know about them.
“They will only be collected when they need a mandatory Covid-19 test, such as before surgery or when they report to work. Unless we do more screening, we will have to deal with the emergence of new groups, “he said.
As an example, Maju’s group in Kuala Lumpur arose when restaurant workers were found to be infected through random screening tests on premises in the city.
Dr Sazaly said that with the emergence of more groups in the future, the country’s leaders would go through “response fatigue” and there is a risk that Malaysians will become even more complacent in the fight against the virus.
“This is not unique to Malaysia; we have also seen it in Australia and South Korea. The Health Ministry should allow many more tests to be available, ”he said.
Malina Osman, a medical epidemiologist at Putra University Malaysia, said all the Covid-19 indicators showed that the outbreak in the country was stalling, but there had been recent concerns about new outbreaks, especially in Sarawak and Kedah.
“This is due to the potential threat that the new mutated strain will be more contagious,” he said.
There are currently nine active Covid-19 clusters in Malaysia, and one has been confirmed to have the D614G mutation, which is said to be 10 times more infectious. Two more are being investigated if they have the same strain.
“There is an increase in patients in the intensive care unit compared to the last two weeks,” he said. This shows that Malaysians will have to continue to comply with standard operating procedure (SOP) to avoid transmissions. “
Kedah currently has four active clusters, Sivagangga, Sala, Tawar, and Muda, of which the Sivagangga cluster was found to have the D614G mutation.
Deputy Health Minister Datuk, Dr. Noor Azmi Ghazali, recently said that investigations were underway to determine whether the Sala and Tawar groups, which recorded a large number of infections, also had the same strain.
The Sivagangga group originated from a nasi kandar restaurant owner who broke home quarantine rules after returning from Sivagangga in India.
The largest active conglomerate currently is Tawar, which has 52 active cases so far, five of which are being treated in intensive care units (ICUs) as of Friday.
His index case (patient 9,113) is a 53-year-old man who had attended a funeral on July 31 and August 1.
The authorities also recently imposed the Enhanced Movement Control (MCO) order in the town of Aman Jaya in Kedah.
Kedah topped the list of states with the most clusters, followed by Kuala Lumpur, which had three, Sarawak and Perak, which had one each.
[ad_2]
