23-year-old woman is country's youngest Covid-19 fatality

CORONAVIRUS | A 23-year-old woman has become the youngest Malaysian patient to succumb to Covid-19, revealed Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

He said the deceased - Patient 2,864 - suffered from a thyroid disorder and was part of a church gathering cluster in Sarawak.

However, Noor Hisham said she was not a participant of the Good News Fellowship conference, which took place on Feb 27 to 29. She had contracted the infection further down the chain.

"She had a history of close contact with two Covid-19 patients (Patient 2,469 and Patient 2,470) and is a fifth-generation (infection) from the church conference cluster.

"She was treated at Sarawak General Hospital on March 30 and passed away on April 9 at 9.42am," he told a press conference in Putrajaya this evening.

Noor Hisham said the woman had sought treatment but an advanced stage of the Covid-19 infection.

"The patient had thyroid disease and came in late for treatment. Most of our cases, 88 percent, come in during stage one to stage two. This patient came in during the fourth category.

"So (at this stage), you need oxygenation and ventilation and the patient succumbed to the illness," he said.

According to Noor Hisham, the Covid-19 infection can progress in five stages.

A Flourish map

 The early stages of the virus infection are stage one where a patient tests positive but does not show any symptoms and stage two when a person tests positive but only shows mild symptoms.

Those at stage three develop some form of pneumonia while those at stage four are those already suffering breathing difficulties and in need of oxygen support.

The next stage, or stage five, are patients who can no longer breathe on their own and have to be intubated and put on ventilators.

Noor Hisham said the Health Ministry had been administering off-label anti-malaria drugs to treat Covid-19 patients and which have shown promising signs in that they could prevent patients in stage one and stage two from advancing to more severe stages.

Previously, the youngest patient to have succumbed to Covid-19 was "Patient 2,323", a 27-year-old Malaysian man who had a history of diabetes, high blood pressure and kidney disease.

The passing of the 23-year-old woman is one of two deaths reported today, bringing the cumulative death toll to 67.

The other death was "Patient 2,798", a 59-year-old Malaysian man who had attend the tabligh gathering in Sri Petaling, Kuala Lumpur in late February.

As of noon today, Malaysia recorded 4,228 confirmed Covid-19 cases with 2,553 more under treatment and 1,608 recoveries.

Globally, Covid-19 has infected 1.52 million people and claimed 88,653 lives.

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- Mkini