WITH Covid-19 cases mounting, health experts have urged the government to provide more detailed information on clusters of infection and locations.

For starters, the Health Ministry can identify the clusters by name and location to raise more awareness among the people, they said.

Universiti Putra Malaysia medical epidemiologist Assoc Prof Dr Malina Osman said it is essential for these clusters be known by their actual names.

“So far, MoH has communicated well the relevant data on this pandemic. However certain situations related to the clusters should be made known to the public through their own actual name and location,” she told The Malaysian Insight.

“We have raised this issue before but the ministry still releases information by providing unfamiliar names of the clusters to the public.

“We wonder why in the dengue outbreak, MoH would provide detail on location and area affected but not in this Covid-19 outbreak.”

When asked if the ministry should also reveal information on conditions at hospitals treating Covid-19 patients, Malina said that could be kept as internal information.

Meanwhile, Malaysian Public Health Physicians’ Association president Dr Zainal Ariffin Omar agrees with Malina on the public needing to know the exact locations of the clusters and case descriptions.

“The ministry is not really transparent with the details of cases and clusters. They say that cases are under control but new cases and clusters keep cropping up,” he said.

Time to bring back MCO?

Malaysia imposed a movement-control order (MCO) on March 18 to limit the outbreak after the number of cases breached the 500 mark but this was relaxed in July.

The third wave of infections that started in late September resulted in conditional CMO, with the number of new daily cases remaining in four digits since.

Concerns have emerged that the ministry’s resources may be overstretched as cases kept mounting, with fresh calls for a tougher lock down to curb the pandemic.

Zainal, however, said Malaysia should not go for a full-fledged MCO again.

He said the government should instead continue with mitigation, which includes testing people with symptoms, isolating and treating severe cases as well as enforcing the standard operating procedure.

Malina, on the other hand, said an MCO would be ideal at this juncture though it won’t be favourable for the economy.

“As we have to strike a balance between economy and health, serious commitment from individuals in public is required to help reduce the current number of cases. We hope the vaccine will soon be available in our country,” she said.

“In any outbreak, its success needs commitment from the policy makers, community, as well as collaborative efforts from all multi-sectorial agencies, including non-Malaysian citizens.

“However, current perception is more towards the government; as if these responsibilities are all matters that need to be solved by the government.”

She said people should follow simple instructions on Covid-19 prevention. – January 2, 2021.