98% of Covid cases quarantined at home in transition phase, says KJ

 

Health minister Khairy Jamaluddin says the Virtual Covid Assessment Centre will use the MySejahtera app to monitor cases at home.

PETALING JAYA: Health minister Khairy Jamaluddin says 98% of Covid-19 cases only need to be quarantined at home in the transition phase, attributing it to the success of the national immunisation programme.

In a series of Twitter posts, Khairy said the health ministry will continue to monitor isolated Covid-19 cases at home through the Virtual Covid Assessment Centre (VCAC).

“Home isolation monitoring is important because some patients with deteriorating symptoms need to be referred to a hospital or treatment centre,” he said.

He said although the referrals of patients isolating at home is less than 1%, VCAC monitoring provides reassurance to patients and real data to the health ministry.

“VCAC is done via the MySejahtera application where patients fill out a health assessment tool (HAT) twice a day about their symptoms,” he said, adding that over 70% of Covid cases at home are filled via HAT daily.

“From the data collected, a notification will be sent to the patient if there is significant deterioration to give them an option to go to a health facility.”

Khairy said this feature will allow the health ministry to monitor cases virtually and gives patients peace of mind.

“To assist and ensure B40 families fill the HAT properly and do a self-health assessment, over 2 million Covid-19 Protection Packages have already been shipped which contain pulse oximeters, thermometers, test kits & face masks. Another 1 million will be sent,” he said.

The country began its transition to the endemic phase of Covid-19 on April 1. - FMT