scholarly journals Malaysia Healthcare Early Response in Combatting COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020

2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (6) ◽  
pp. 425-437
Author(s):  
Safiya Amaran ◽  
Ahmad Zulfahmi Mohd Kamaruzaman ◽  
Nurul Yaqeen Mohd Esa ◽  
Zaharah Sulaiman
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Healthcare System ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Movement Control ◽  
Early Response ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Early Disease Detection ◽  
Laboratory Services ◽  
Control Order ◽  
Novel Coronavirus

The year 2020 saw the emergence of a novel coronavirus—the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2— which has led to an unprecedented pandemic that has shaken the entire world. The pandemic has been a new experience for Malaysia, especially during the implementation of large-scale public health and social measures called the Movement Control Order (MCO). This paper seeks to describe the experiences of the Malaysian healthcare system thus far in combatting the pandemic. The Malaysian healthcare system comprises two main arms: public health and medicine. The public health arm focuses on early disease detection, contact tracing, quarantines, the MCO, and risk stratification strategies in the community. The medical arm focuses on the clinical management of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients; it encompasses laboratory services, the devising of clinical setting adjustments, and hospital management for COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients. Malaysia experienced intense emotions at the beginning of the pandemic, with great uncertainty regarding the pandemic’s outcome, as the world saw a frighteningly high COVID-19 mortality. As of writing (May 30, 2020), Malaysia has passed the peak of its second wave of infections. The experience thus far has helped in preparing the country’s healthcare system to be vigilant and more prepared for future COVID-19 waves. To date, the pandemic has changed many aspects of Malaysia’s life, and people are still learning to adapt to new norms in their lives.

scholarly journals Use of movement restrictions during an outbreak of COVID-19 in Selangor, Malaysia

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 51-56
Author(s):  
Anita Suleiman ◽  
Shaari Ngadiman ◽  
Mazliza Ramly ◽  
Ahmad Faudzi Yusoff ◽  
Mohamed Paid Yusof
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Movement Control ◽  
Health Department ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Epidemic Curve ◽  
Imported Cases ◽  
Control Order ◽  
Control Orders ◽  
Public Health Strategies

Objective: Various public health and social measures have been used during the COVID-19 outbreak, including lockdowns, contact-tracing, isolation and quarantine. The objective of this manuscript is to describe outbreaks of COVID-19 in Selangor, Malaysia, the public health strategies used and the observed impact of the measures on the epidemic curve. Methods: Information on all confirmed COVID-19 cases in Selangor between 25 January and 28 April 2020 was obtained. Clusters were identified, and cases were disaggregated into linked, unlinked and imported cases. Epidemic curves were constructed, and the timing of movement control orders was compared with the numbers of cases reported. Results: During the study period, 1395 confirmed COVID-19 cases were reported to the Selangor Health Department, of which 15.8% were imported, 79.5% were linked and 4.7% were unlinked cases. For two main clusters, the number of cases decreased after control measures were instituted, by contact-tracing followed by isolation and home quarantine for the first cluster (n = 126), and with the addition of the movement control order for the second, much larger cluster (n = 559). Discussion: The findings suggest that appropriate, timely public health interventions and movement control measures have a synergistic effect on controlling COVID-19 outbreaks.

Application of Inherent Risk of Contagion (IRC) framework & modelling to aid local Covid-19 response & mitigation: Viewpoint (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helmi Zakariah ◽  
Fadzilah bt Kamaluddin ◽  
Choo-Yee Ting ◽  
Hui-Jia Yee ◽  
Shereen Allaham ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Vulnerable Population ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Global Public Health ◽  
Inherent Risk ◽  
Transmission Area ◽  
Current Outbreak ◽  
Novel Coronavirus

UNSTRUCTURED The current outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the novel coronavirus named SARS-CoV-2 has been a major global public health problem threatening many countries and territories. Mathematical modelling is one of the non-pharmaceutical public health measures that plays a crucial role for mitigating the risk and impact of the pandemic. A group of researchers and epidemiologists have developed a machine learning-powered inherent risk of contagion (IRC) analytical framework to georeference the COVID-19 with an operational platform to plan response & execute mitigation activities. This framework dataset provides a coherent picture to track and predict the COVID-19 epidemic post lockdown by piecing together preliminary data on publicly available health statistic metrics alongside the area of reported cases, drivers, vulnerable population, and number of premises that are suspected to become a transmission area between drivers and vulnerable population. The main aim of this new analytical framework is to measure the IRC and provide georeferenced data to protect the health system, aid contact tracing, and prioritise the vulnerable.

The complication of cyber manhunt: How cyber manhunt further complicated the ethical conflict between breaching the confidentiality and endangering the society in face of the COVID-19 pandemic (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yen-Chang Chen ◽  
Yen-Yuan Chen
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Personal Information ◽  
Public Health Intervention ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Online Activity ◽  
Contact Investigation ◽  
The Impact

UNSTRUCTURED While health care and public health workers are working on measures to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic, there is an unprecedentedly large number of people spending much more time indoors, and relying heavily on the Internet as their lifeline. What has been overlooked is the influence of the increasing online activities on public health issues. In this article, we pointed out how a large-scale online activity called cyber manhunt may threaten to offset the efficacy of contact tracing investigation, a public health intervention considered highly effective in limiting further transmission in the early stage of a highly contagious disease outbreak such as the COVID-19 pandemic. In the first section, we presented a case to show how personal information obtained from contact investigation and disclosed in part on the media provoked a vehement cyber manhunt. We then discussed the possible reasons why netizens collaborate to reveal anonymized personal information about contact investigation, and specify, from the perspective of public health and public health ethics, four problems of cyber manhunt, including the lack of legitimate public health goals, the concerns about privacy breach, the impact of misinformation, and social inequality. Based on our analysis, we concluded that more moral weight may be given to protecting one's confidentiality, especially in an era with the rapid advance of digital and information technologies.

scholarly journals Air Quality Impact during COVID-19: A Case Study in One Institute of Higher Learning (IHL) in Malaysia

2021 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 72-82
Author(s):  
Farrah Anuar ◽  
Norzila Othman ◽  
Wahid Ali Hamood Altowayti ◽  
Nurina Fitriani
Keyword(s):  
Particulate Matter ◽  
Movement Control ◽  
Higher Learning ◽  
Air Contamination ◽  
Control Order ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
Spread Of Infection ◽  
Particulate Matter 2.5 ◽  
And Control

Novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) was first detected in Wuhan, China, soon its rapid escalation in global and become global spread of infection including Malaysia. The principal cases in Malaysia were distinguished on 25th January 2020. The number of cases keeps on ascending since March 2020 until Malaysia has the highest number of cases in Southeast Asia. Therefore, to respond and control the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, the 2020 Movement Control Order (MCO) is implemented. The MCO actualizes a movement of reasonable steps to control advance flare-ups of COVID-19 within the country, counting closing down all organization and private premises aside from those related with "fundamental administrations" and several parts with government permission, and travel disallowances on all outsiders entering Malaysia and on Malaysians taking off the country. Correspondingly, this MCO has brought about the decrease of air contamination as the number of engine vehicles and the activity of businesses is suspended. This study aims to determine the concentrations of particulate matter 2.5 at the selected monitoring stations in UTHM and to correlate environmental factor which is wind speed and wind direction with the Particulate Matter 2.5. This study uses PM2.5 fixations to explain the air pollution before to MCO, stages I, II, III, and IV, where the contingent MCO is actualized. Such outcomes relate to the air contamination list as it was discovered that the PM2.5 fixations showed a high decrease of up to -74 μg/m3 during Phase IV MCO.

scholarly journals Restructuring of Healthcare System in Italy during COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ziad Sabaa-Ayoun
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Healthcare System ◽  
Disease Recurrence ◽  
Ethical Frameworks ◽  
Healthcare Needs ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Management Plans ◽  
National Public Health ◽  
Public Health Officials ◽  
Novel Coronavirus

The rise of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused unprecedented public health responses worldwide. To prevent hospitals from oversaturating, nations are restructuring their healthcare systems to prioritize limited resources and care for the treatment of COVID-19-infected patients. The Italian healthcare system, for example, converted numerous hospital services to Intensive Care Units, redeployed physicians to short-staffed centers, and centralized medical services to a small number of hospitals to meet the pandemic’s demands. While this restructuring served the nation’s short-term healthcare needs, it impeded access to care for non-COVID-19 patients suffering from acute or chronic non-communicable diseases, such as strokes. These patients are at increased risk of long-term disability and poorer adherence to management plans and have an increased likelihood of disease recurrence. This commentary discusses the ethical dilemma surrounding the necessary healthcare restructuring and unintended impairment of care to non-infected patients. It also explores the need for national public health officials to reassess strategies employed during the pandemic and their need to focus on creating ethical frameworks for maximizing equitable care.

scholarly journals Measuring the scientific effectiveness of contact tracing: Evidence from a natural experiment

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (33) ◽  
pp. e2100814118
Author(s):  
Thiemo Fetzer ◽  
Thomas Graeber
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Natural Experiment ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Public Health Approach ◽  
The Public ◽  
Random Breakdown ◽  
Randomized Controlled ◽  
Health Authorities

Contact tracing has for decades been a cornerstone of the public health approach to epidemics, including Ebola, severe acute respiratory syndrome, and now COVID-19. It has not yet been possible, however, to causally assess the method’s effectiveness using a randomized controlled trial of the sort familiar throughout other areas of science. This study provides evidence that comes close to that ideal. It exploits a large-scale natural experiment that occurred by accident in England in late September 2020. Because of a coding error involving spreadsheet data used by the health authorities, a total of 15,841 COVID-19 cases (around 20% of all cases) failed to have timely contact tracing. By chance, some areas of England were much more severely affected than others. This study finds that the random breakdown of contact tracing led to more illness and death. Conservative causal estimates imply that, relative to cases that were initially missed by the contact tracing system, cases subject to proper contact tracing were associated with a reduction in subsequent new infections of 63% and a reduction insubsequent COVID-19–related deaths of 66% across the 6 wk following the data glitch.

scholarly journals Identifying Synergistic Interventions to Address COVID-19 Using a Large Scale Agent-Based Model

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junjiang Li ◽  
Philippe J. Giabbanelli
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Remote Work ◽  
Agent Based Model ◽  
Agent Based ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Small Set ◽  
Factorial Design Of Experiments ◽  
The Individual

AbstractThere is a range of public health tools and interventions to address the global pandemic of COVID-19. Although it is essential for public health efforts to comprehensively identify which interventions have the largest impact on preventing new cases, most of the modeling studies that support such decision-making efforts have only considered a very small set of interventions. In addition, previous studies predominantly considered interventions as independent or examined a single scenario in which every possible intervention was applied. Reality has been more nuanced, as a subset of all possible interventions may be in effect for a given time period, in a given place. In this paper, we use cloud-based simulations and a previously published Agent-Based Model of COVID-19 (Covasim) to measure the individual and interacting contribution of interventions on reducing new infections in the US over 6 months. Simulated interventions include face masks, working remotely, stay-at-home orders, testing, contact tracing, and quarantining. Through a factorial design of experiments, we find that mask wearing together with transitioning to remote work/schooling has the largest impact. Having sufficient capacity to immediately and effectively perform contact tracing has a smaller contribution, primarily via interacting effects.

scholarly journals How Home Anterior Self-collected Nasal Swab Simplifies SARS-CoV2 Testing: New Surveillance Horizons in Public Health and Beyond.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvia Ricci ◽  
Lorenzo Lodi ◽  
Francesco Citera ◽  
Francesco Nieddu ◽  
Maria Moriondo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Healthcare System ◽  
Mass Screening ◽  
Nasal Swab ◽  
Entire Population ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Strong Impact ◽  
Sample Collection ◽  
Diagnostic Capability

Abstract The sample collection procedure for SARS-Co-V2 identification has a strong impact on diagnostic capability, contact tracing approach, ultimately affecting the infection containment performance. This study demonstrates that self-collected nasal-swab has shown to be a valid and well tolerated procedure to Sars-CoV-2 surveillance in a healthcare system. More significantly, no performance adequacy difference was detected in self-administered swabs between HCW and non-HCW which allows to speculate that this procedure could be successfully extended to the entire population for mass screening.

scholarly journals Pandemik COVID-19: Cabaran Pengajaran dan Pembelajaran (PDP) Pendidikan Islam Dalam Pendidikan Khas Bagi Pelajar Orang Kurang Upaya (OKU) Masalah Pembelajaran Di Malaysia

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 127-138
Author(s):  
Azman Ab Rahman ◽  
Syed Salim Syed Shamsudin ◽  
Nurul Nadia Nozlan ◽  
Muhd. Faiz Abd. Shakor ◽  
Afaf Sukari
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Learning Disabilities ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Movement Control ◽  
Islamic Education ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Learning Material ◽  
Students With Learning Disabilities ◽  
Control Order ◽  
Novel Coronavirus

Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV), also known as COVID-19, has surprised the country worldwide. The COVID-19 pandemic has had significant implications for communities around the world in general and Malaysia in particular. COVID-19 has caused various sectors to be affected by the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, including educational institutions in Malaysia. This matter also concerns Islamic Education teachers in Special Education because the Teaching and Learning process (PdP) of Islamic Education with students with learning disabilities (OKU MP) had to be implemented online. Thus, the study's objective is to identify the PdP method used by teachers of Islamic Education in Special Education and the challenges faced when conducting PdP with OKU MP during COVID-19. This study uses a qualitative method by using a questionnaire approach and documentation to collect data for the study objectives. The study found that identifying specific and appropriate techniques before starting the PdP with students with learning disabilities is the primary method in the PdP of Islamic Education during COVID-19. The main challenges in the PdP of Islamic Education for OKU MP students are issues related to technological facilities as well as matters of commitment of students and parents, skills and expertise of teachers as well as the lack of Supported Learning Material (BBM) while continuing the PdP online due to the implementation of Movement Control Order (MCO) by the Malaysian government. Researchers hoped that this study could help teachers and OKU MP face the challenges to continue the PdP of Islamic Education during COVID-19 and reference educational institutions in improving the PdP process for OKU students in Malaysia in general. Keywords: Teaching and Learning (PdP), Islamic Education, Special Education, Students with Learning Disabilities, COVID-19 Abstrak Negara telah digemparkan dengan satu wabak yang dinamakan sebagai Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) atau dikenali juga sebagai COVID-19. Bencana wabak COVID-19 ini telah memberi implikasi yang besar kepada masyarakat di seluruh dunia secara umumnya dan Malaysia secara khususnya. Hal ini telah menyebabkan pelbagai sektor turut terkesan dengan penularan wabak COVID-19 tersebut termasuklah institusi Pendidikan di Malaysia. Perkara ini turut memberi kebimbangan kepada para guru Pendidikan Islam dalam Pendidikan Khas kerana proses Pengajaran dan Pembelajaran (PDP) Pendidikan Islam dalam Pendidikan Khas bersama pelajar Kurang Upaya Masalah Pembelajaran (OKU MP) perlu dilaksanakan secara atas talian. Justeru, objektif kajian ini dijalankan adalah untuk mengenal pasti kaedah PDP yang digunakan oleh para guru Pendidikan Islam dalam Pendidikan Khas dan cabaran yang dihadapi sewaktu menjalankan PDP bersama para pelajar OKU MP sewaktu COVID-19. Kajian ini menggunakan kaedah kualitatif dengan menggunakan pendekatan soal selidik dalam mengumpulkan data bagi mencapai objektif kajian. Hasil kajian mendapati bahawa kaedah mengenal pasti teknik tertentu dan bersesuaian sebelum memulakan PDP bersama OKU MP merupakan kaedah utama dalam PDP Pendidikan Islam sewaktu COVID-19. Cabaran utama dalam PDP Pendidikan Islam pelajar OKU MP adalah isu berkaitan kemudahan teknologi selain isu komitmen pelajar dan ibu bapa, kemahiran dan kepakaran guru serta kekurangan Bahan Bantu Mengajar (BBM) sepanjang meneruskan PDP secara atas talian disebabkan perlaksanaan Perintah Kawalan Pergerakan (PKP) yang dilaksanakan oleh kerajaan Malaysia. Kajian ini diharapkan dapat membantu para guru dan pelajar OKU MP dalam mendepani cabaran yang dihadapi bagi meneruskan PDP Pendidikan Islam sewaktu COVID-19 serta menjadi rujukan kepada institusi pendidikan dalam menambah baik proses PDP bagi pelajar OKU di Malaysia secara umumnya. Kata Kunci: Pengajaran dan Pembelajaran (PDP), Pendidikan Islam, Pendidikan Khas, Masalah Pembelajaran, COVID-19.

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