THE bodies of Covid-19 victims must be handled with care as they may still be contagious, said Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah today.

“In a post-mortem, we found that the virus was present on the skin, and in bodily fluids, urine and internal organs,” the director-general of health told a daily press conference on the coronavirus.

“If the body is not handled carefully, those who bathe the body could be infected.”

A post-mortem conducted on a victim recently showed that the virus remained on the surface of the body.

Dr Noor Hisham added that there are five categories of severity for infections.

Asymptomatic cases belong in the first category, while patients with mild symptoms are in the second.

The third group is for those with pneumonia but do not need oxygen assistance, while those with the illness who require such aid are in the fourth.

Patients in need of respiratory support are in the fifth category.

More than 80% of Covid-19 patients in Malaysia fall under the first two categories, said Dr Noor Hisham.

While such patients are put under home surveillance in some countries, Malaysia chooses to hospitalise them for treatment.

“If we are able to screen them in the early stages, we will ward them and observe them,” said the health chief.

He said patients who seek treatment when the disease is at an advanced stage may suffer from internal-organ complications. – April 23, 2020.