COVID-19: Malaysia's approach may have contributed to low death, high recovery rates, says Health DG

KUALA LUMPUR (April 15): Malaysia’s approach of isolating positive Covid-19 infected patients, even though they are asymptomatic or show mild symptoms, may have contributed in the low fatality rate and high number of recovered cases, says Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah (pictured). 

He said this approach is different from many other countries, such as the UK and Italy, where positive patients who are asymptomatic and show mild symptoms are only advised to stay at home to self-quarantine. 

"Our policy here in Malaysia, positive patients whether they have symptoms or not, we make sure that they are isolated in the hospitals so that we can actually monitor them closely," he said during his daily media briefing on the Covid-19 situation in the country.

"In other countries, (for) asymptomatic positive cases, they advise them to be at home but here we monitor them in our hospitals.

"Perhaps that is the reason why we have about 88% [of total cases] who are asymptomatic and [display] mild symptoms. And because of the close monitoring and the treatment given, we see that our outcomes are much better," Noor Hisham added. 

Noor Hisham said that the general duration for isolation and treatment for Covid-19 positive patients in Malaysia is 14 days. However, before the patient is discharged, he or she will again be tested for the coronavirus. 

"If it is still positive, we have to make sure that the patient remains in the hospital," he said. 

As of today, Malaysia's total recovered cases has surpassed the 50%-mark out of the total confirmed Covid-19 positive cases in the country, where a total of 2,647 patients have been discharged from hospitals, representing 52.2% out of the total 5,072 cases. 

Meanwhile, the Covid-19 death toll in Malaysia now stands at 83, representing a 1.64% fatality rate.

In comparison, as of yesterday, the total number of recovered cases in the world stands at 458,767, or 23.82% of the 1.93 million total confirmed cases. 

The global death toll stands at 119,823, giving a fatality rate of 6.22%.

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