COVID-19 patients showing no symptoms to stay home while hospitals deal with bed, ambulance shortage

Noor Hisham speaking at a COVID-19 awareness event in December. Photo: Noor Hisham Abdullah/Facebook
Noor Hisham speaking at a COVID-19 awareness event in December. Photo: Noor Hisham Abdullah/Facebook

Malaysia Health Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah has advised patients with COVID-19 who are not displaying symptoms of the disease to isolate at homes instead of hospitals while the country grapples with healthcare logistics. 

Hospitals have been struggling with the shortage of ambulances and beds as cases continue to rise in the country, the health chief told reporters today. The country had been sending asymptomatic coronavirus patients for two-week quarantine at its 27 hospitals, including the Kuala Lumpur Hospital and the Sungai Buloh. To date, there are 200,00 active cases. 

“The Ministry of Health is currently dealing with a very high number of cases and logistics issues when it comes to ferrying patients to hospitals,” Noor Hisham, 57, said. “We are talking about more than 1,000 cases a day.”

“Foreign workers have no place to be isolated,” he added.

Malaysia recorded 1,196 new infections yesterday. The total number of infections since the outbreak in February have reached 105,096. The death toll stands at 451.

The Health Ministry today added more than 3,000 beds to the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang COVID-19 crisis center in Selangor, where infected foreign workers were being quarantined. 

People in the queue for hospitals due to COVID-19 were also advised to contact health officers of their respective districts on the status of hospital beds and ambulances. 

https://twitter.com/KKMPutrajaya/status/1343414943069085698

Other stories to check out:

Health workers, elderly among first million to get Malaysia’s COVID-19 jabs

 



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