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PETALING JAYA: Chief Health Officer Tan Sri Dr. Noor Hisham Abdullah (Photo) said the number of cases was expected to rise due to active public health measures being taken, including community surveillance, close contact tracing and preoperative screening.
Dr. Malina Osman, a medical epidemiologist and biostatistician at the Universiti Putra Malaysia, agreed, adding that as long as there are no new groups, the numbers will decrease once the testing exercises are completed.
“In my opinion, it will take at least two months for the cases to decrease as long as everyone complies with the standard operating procedure (SOP) and we do not have problems with personal protective equipment (PPE),” she said when contacted.
Regarding the alarming increase in cases in Sabah and the peninsula arising from people with a history of travel to the state, Dr. Malina said improvements could be made to the SOP.
“We have suggested closing the border for two weeks.
“We also suggest that those returning from Sabah should be quarantined for at least 14 days, regardless of the result of the first screening test.
“They should also be quarantined in designated centers and not at home, like what is happening now,” he said.
Dr. Noor Hisham had said that from September 20 to October 11, there were a total of 353 Covid-19 cases on the peninsula from people who had a history of travel to Sabah.
Cases have also been reported of people infected by relatives or relatives who were in home quarantine after returning from Sabah.
However, now that the country faces the third wave of Covid-19, Dr. Malina is of the opinion that the recipe for curbing and controlling infections has not changed from the beginning.
Among the measures that would determine whether Malaysia was successful in participating in the third wave are public acceptance and compliance with the SOP and all preventive measures, he said.
“We also need clear and consistent instructions related to SOPs, as well as the strict application of all measures related to the motion control order (MCO).
“Local leaders and community participation must show excellent examples through voluntary work by non-governmental organizations,” he added.
Universiti Malaya virologist Dr. Sazaly Abu Bakar said the number of cases would eventually reach saturation and plateau “once everyone who is going to be infected has been infected.”
He said it was just a question of how fast we could get to that point.
“I have no doubt that the Ministry of Health will report more cases, as the test results are obtained,” he added.
Regarding the alarming increase in cases in Sabah after the state elections on September 26, Professor Sazaly said that the real problem was the actual rate of infection in the community even before the elections.
“Most likely he was in the community even before the elections.
“We need to perform molecular typing of the viruses recovered from patients to determine the situation.”
He said that once the government has successfully stopped broadcasting from Sabah, the focus should be to address sporadic cases on the peninsula.
“Preventing large outbreaks among those living in closed and confined spaces such as prisons, barracks, and high-density residential communities would dramatically reduce the number of cases.
“The government should also advise the public to limit the number of people per meeting to less than 25, to reduce the chances of transmission considering the probability of two positives for every 250,” he said, adding that emphasis should also be placed on prevention. from the workplace. transmission.
Professor Sazaly said that the Ministry of Health could carry out a random sampling to carry out tests in the different localities of the peninsula in order to have a better estimate of the infection rate in the different communities.
The Chairman of the Malaysian Coalition Physicians Association, Dr. Raj Kumar Maharajah, also said that the increase in the number of registered Covid-19 cases was expected due to the amount of testing being done.
“As we know, 80% of the cases with Covid-19 are asymptomatic.
“So if we test more people, we will definitely get more positive cases,” he said.
On Sunday, the Health Ministry also detected 488 new cases in the Sabah community, with 438 cases not attributed to any group there.
Dr. Raj Kumar said that in reality, not all people with influenza-like illness (ILI) were being screened for Covid-19 and that many continued to visit their family doctors for treatment for fever, flu, etc. cough and sore throat.
“This puts physicians and the communities in which they live at risk, but it is just not practical to send everyone with ILI to hospital for testing.”
As such, he reiterated the importance of following the POE.
He said the cases in Sabah would decrease if the government strictly enforced the SOP without fear or favor.
“The community must also play its role and not take things lightly.
“We will be successful if all Malaysians play their part, including the leaders,” he added.
Dr. Raj Kumar said that due to the high number of daily cases, the country was no longer in MCO recovery mode.
“I would call it the revival of the MCO,” he said.
The president of the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA), Professor Datuk Dr. M. Subramaniam, said that although the daily numbers were increasing and causing anxiety in the public, increasing the tests was still the right way to go.
“I think the current triple-digit numbers will go down once assessments are completed in red zones like Sabah.”
However, he agreed that the country was no longer in recovery mode and that it would be more appropriate to say that Malaysia was in the midst of a Covid-19 resurgence phase.
“The way to flatten the curve remains the same here and for the rest of the world.
“We need to practice social distancing, wear a mask and take care of our cleanliness by washing our hands.
“Cases will increase if we relax and are complacent,” he warned.
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