AS low-risk treatment centres become packed, the Ministry of Health is now looking at prioritising patients who do not have a conducive environment to quarantine at home.

Director-General of Health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the current capacity at hospitals and low-risk treatment facilities are limited to only 23,000 beds.

“We can accommodate for now but if we look at active cases it is (over) 22,000. Our capacity is 23, 000,” he told a press conference today.

Noor Hisham also said that about 89-90% of Covid-19 patients are asymptomatic or show mild symptoms.

“We are looking at giving priority to cases that do not have a proper environment for quarantine. For example, we house foreign workers at MAEPS (Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang),” he said.

“We are also looking at the criteria of home quarantine and isolation for asymptomatic and mild symptom cases. We are fine-tuning criteria that can be considered,” he added.

“As cases are mounting, there are still delays in transporting patients to treatment centres due to logistics issues, he said.

On a separate note, Noor Hisham said patients can be discharged after 10 days without having to undergo a second Covid-19 test.

Citing latest data from the World Health Organisation(WHO), he said usually the second test result may be positive due to virus shedding although the virus is no longer infectious.

He was responding to claims that some patients were discharged without having a second test.

Under previous practice, a patient would have to undergo a second test on the 13th day of treatment to confirm their status of infection. They will only be allowed to be discharged after they have been cleared of the virus. – January 4, 2021.