COVID-19 | Amid complaints from some Sabahans that they had to wait days to be admitted for treatment and observation after testing positive for Covid-19, Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said this was due to a “backlog” which has since been cleared.
“We did initially have a backlog but now we have cleared the backlog. That’s the reason why we suddenly see the increase in cases because we have cleared the backlog.
“So once we have cleared the backlog, we hope that the results will be timely and our staff can trace those positive cases and admit them to the low-risk treatment and quarantine centres or to the hospitals,” Noor Hisham said in his press conference at the Health Ministry in Putrajaya today.
Malaysiakini had reported earlier that some patients in Sabah had said they had to wait several days to receive their swab test results and then several days more to be taken into either a hospital or quarantine and light symptoms observation centre.
Sabah has consistently recorded daily triple-digit rise in cases in the past fortnight, placing pressure on its healthcare system.
Experts have said it might be mere weeks before the system collapses if more support is not given.
The ministry said it is addressing the situation by deploying more personnel to hotspot areas, adding hospital beds, opening up more quarantine and light symptoms treatment and observation centres and using military resources for treatment and transport of tests to the peninsular for testing.
The director-general announced there were 871 new cases recorded today, with 702 of the cases coming from Sabah alone. - Mkini
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