PUTRAJAYA JAN 4: The World Health Organization (WHO) had allowed COVID-19 infected person to be discharged after 10 days of quarantine without going through the second test.
Director General of Health, Tan Sri Dr. Noor Hisham Abdullah said, the COVID-19 patient could be positive after 10 days of quarantine but the infectivity rate has been low and could be controlled.
Dr. Noor Hisham said, at the initial stage of the COVID-19 pandemic the patients will only be discharged after two tests had shown negative results after 72 hours.
Regarding the new COVID-19 cases that are on the rise every day, Dr. Noor Hisham said, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has the capacity to cater for 23,000 patients but now there are 22,000 active cases.
“About 89-90% of the COVID-19 cases are in stage one and two and they are either being isolated in the case of foreigners or quarantined at home for the Malaysians.
“When the daily cases are on the rise, the positive COVID-19 patients will be sent late to the hospitals by the health workers. Currently about 90% of the cases are without symptoms and they could be isolated or will be quarantined at home,” he said in a press conference held here today.
On another development, 1,741 new COVID-19 cases had been recorded adding to the cumulative total of 120,818 while 22,089 cases are active.
He added, from the new cases, eight were imported from abroad and only 1,733 had been transmitted locally.
Dr. Noor Hisham said, 1,010 patients had been discharged adding to 98,228 or 81.3% from the grand total of cases while 122 had been admitted to the Intensive Care Units (ICU) with 53 cases needed respiratory aids.
However he added, seven deaths had been recorded adding the death toll to 501 or 0.4% from the overall cases.
Meanwhile Selangor has recorded the highest with 687 cases (39.5%) and from that 541 cases (78.7%) are from clusters and close contact COVID-19 screenings that have been carried out on the ground.
Sabah has 303 cases (17.4%) while Johor with 295 cases (16.9%). Meanwhile 32 cases (1.8%) are from related clusters in the lock-ups, immigration detention depots and prisons involving Telok Mas cluster (10 cases), Jalan Harapan Prison (9), Tembok Choh (6), Tembok Gajah (3), Tembok (2), Tembok Mempaga (1) and GK Tawau (1).
Regarding COVID-19 clusters, Dr. Noor Hisham said, 231 active clusters are being monitored by MOH out of which 50 clusters have additional daily cases and this includes Jalan Duyong with 95 cases, Jalan Perindustrian (81), and Hentian (73).
MOH also informed that five new clusters were formed and this included Jalan Duyong with 110 cases involving the district of Klang in Selangor and Pasar Jalan Sentosa cluster affecting Kuala Langat district in Selangor where 61 cases had been detected with positive COVID-19.
Meanwhile, the Jalan Nakhoda cluster that had affected the district of Titiwangsa and Cheras in Kuala Lumpur had 14 new COVID-19 cases after 99 individuals were screened tested by a company.
The Ehsan Ibol cluster had occurred in the district of Hulu Perak, Larut, Matang and Selama in Perak and the district of Gombak in Selangor. Until 4th Jan.2021, 22 cases had been detected with positive COVID-19 after 40 individuals were screened tested.
The Telok Mas cluster had affected a detention centre in the district of Melaka Tengah, Melaka where 13 cases were detected with positive COVID-19 following 33 individuals had been screened tested until 4th Jan.2021.
However the states with new COVID-19 cases include Selangor 687 cases, Sabah (303), Kuala Lumpur (150), Negeri Sembilan (56), Johor (295), Penang (55), Perak (34), Kedah (45), Labuan (1), Pahang (12), Melaka (34), Sarawak (8), Kelantan (50), Terengganu (4), Putrajaya (6) and Perlis (1). –Malaysia World News
