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KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia reported 220 more recoveries from COVID-19 on Tuesday (April 14) bringing the total number of recoveries to 2,478, almost 50 percent of the total number of positive cases.
The director general of the Ministry of Health, Noor Hisham Abdullah, said in a press conference that 2,478 recovered and were discharged. He emphasized that the number of recoveries again exceeded the number of new cases.
“From 12 p. M. On Tuesday, there were 170 new cases, bringing the total number of positive cases to 4,987.
“A total of 60 people are being treated in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and 30 of them need the ventilator,” he said.
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Dr. Noor Hisham later announced that there were a total of five deaths on April 14, bringing the total number of deaths to 82.
Four of the deaths involved Malaysians who had diabetes, a kidney condition, high blood pressure, or a heart condition.
The CEO during the press conference reiterated that people with pre-existing diseases were more likely to have the virus become fatal.
Workers wearing protective suits pray before a disinfection operation, during the movement control order due to the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, April 1, 2020. REUTERS / Lim Huey Teng
MALAYSIA WILL INCREASE THE EVIDENCE
Dr. Noor Hisham later added that the ministry planned to add five more labs to increase its daily testing capacity from the current 11,500 to the specific 16,500.
“We are planning to add five more labs in Tawau, Miri, Bintulu, Sandakan and Kluang,” he said, adding that there are currently 43 operating labs that test COVID-19 samples daily.
On April 7, Dr. Noor Hisham had said that Malaysia performed between 9,000 and 10,000 tests daily and that the maximum test capacity was 11,500.
READ: An elderly woman dies alone in Malaysia, a family in Singapore struggles with funeral arrangements amid COVID-19 restrictions
He said that RT-PCR tests to detect COVID-19 take at least six hours, and with volume, the processing time exceeds 24 hours, sometimes more than 48 hours. That also excludes the time required to transport samples to the laboratory.
He also added that an accurate antigen rapid test kit used at the point of care, which can deliver reports within an hour, could reduce the number of pending test results.
To date, Malaysia has tested rapid test kits from China and South Korea. However, Dr. Noor Hisham said that neither could provide the desired results, as they both only provided 50 percent accuracy compared to the target 70 percent.
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