HEALTH experts have urged people experieng flu-like symptoms to get tested for Covid-19 without delay in view of a rising number of sporadic cases.

According to the Health Ministry, about 80% of the total cases reported since May 1 were sporadic.

Sporadic cases are infections which source is unknown. The cases are classified as isolated or random and cannot be traced to a cluster or case.

It is estimated there could have been 140,000 sporadic cases of coronavirus since May 1.

Virologist Dr Chee Hui Yee of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Universiti Putra Malaysia, said people must pay attention to the rising number of sporadic cases in the community and get tested if they experience symptoms.

“By looking at the huge sporadic cases in the community, we should suspect it could be Covid-19 when we have mild flu-like symptoms and quickly get tested and isolate ourselves,” she told The Malaysian Insight.

“We need to encourage the public to be more proactive to get tested,” she added.

Dr Chee believes that the rise in sporadic cases could be due to violation of standard operating procedures (SOP).

Universiti Putra Malaysia medical epidemiologist Associate Prof Dr Malina Osman agreed that people who suffered from symptoms such as flu and cough should get tested even if they have not been exposed to positive cases.

“In my opinion, even though there may be no clinical history of being exposed to any positive cases but with current rampant SOP violation, the probability of infection would be mainly due to SOP violation,” she said.

“In a situation where most of the individuals do not seriously comply with preventive practices, any potential source of infection from another person or environment may transmit to the person,” she added.

Former health minister Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad, who is currently the head of the Selangor Task Force for Covid-19, told The Malaysian Insight on May 14, that 80% of infections in Selangor were sporadic cases.

Selangor has been topping the daily tally of infections almost on a daily basis with infections trending above the 2,000-mark. It hit more than 3,000 on Thursday.

Health Minister Dr Adham Baba said recently that the number of sporadic cases increased by 60% in May, which sent the alarm bells ringing.

Between the start of the year up to April 25, a total of 170,173 sporadic cases were reported.

Selangor accounted for the highest number of cases 65,215, followed by Kuala Lumpur (19,834), and Johor (17,934). – June 5, 2021.