KUCHING: Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii hopes that the Ministry of Health (MOH) would come out with new guidelines as soon as possible for asymptomatic Covid-19 cases that need to undergo home quarantine.
He said this in response to Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah’s statement that individuals who tested positive for the virus but are asymptomatic, have to self-isolate at home first before being taken to hospital due to the insufficient number of beds.
“This is worrying. This is actually what we feared at the beginning when we said we needed the movement control order (MCO) to flatten the curve,” he said in a Facebook post on Monday (Dec 28).
He said those undergoing home quarantine must be properly isolated in a specific room and not share bathrooms and kitchens.
“Ideally, the entire household must also self-isolate together at home to reduce risks of spreading it to the community.
He mentioned the best way to curb the spread is to speed up contact tracing which should ideally be done between 24 hours and 48 hours because the faster it can be traced, the faster the cases can be isolated.
“Dr Noor Hisham had admitted that in many cases, it takes more than 48 hours. This delay may be due to lack of manpower or places to isolate.
“If it is due to manpower, the MOH should look into recruiting and engaging with more to focus on contact tracing as seen in different countries. It may be difficult to fully prevent an outbreak, but what can be done is to be quick to contain it.
“I feel for Dr Noor Hisham, and feel that too much is put on his shoulders. In Singapore, they engaged with an 18-man expert panel in April comprising experts in infectious diseases, immunology, including individuals from the healthcare sector, academia and clinical among others to advise their government on their approach towards Covid-19,” he said.
Dr Yii said in the case of Malaysia, there are experts in these fields and he has confidence in their expertise and abilities.
“But I am not sure whether all of the experts are recruited and engaged to help in this war, not just those in the public sector, but also in the private sector so that there will be a whole-of-society approach,” he said.
He hoped the government will also be transparent in their plans and approach in handling the situation.
“This is important because it will give confidence and acceptance towards our approach and eventually the Covid-19 vaccine,” he said.
