THERE may be many mildly affected and asymptomatic Covid-19 patients in Selangor who have not been screened and would not seek medical attention until their condition worsens, warned public health experts.

They said that, if left unchecked, this could lead to more deaths.

Selangor State Health director Dr Sha’ari Ngadiman had recently said that 65% of Covid-19 patients at the Selangor Covid-19 Assessment Centres (CAC) were Category 1, 20% from Category 2, and 15% were from Category 3 and above.

The percentage of Category 3 Covid-19 patients who visited the Selangor CAC is higher than the percentage of Category 3 Covid-19 patients in CACs in other states in the nation.

Former deputy minister of health Dr Lee Boon Chye said the number of patients in Category 3 in Selangor was worrying.

“If the situation in Selangor is 15% for Category 3 and above, it means many people with mild symptoms didn’t report their condition or that their mild symptoms have not been revealed,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Lee believed that some may have chosen to be home patients after contracting the virus, and would not go for screening until their condition worsens.

“This will also lead to more severe cases being screened in the state. They may be at the first level at the beginning and endure at home by themselves until the situation becomes serious,” he said.

Lee said that it was necessary to reflect on the effectiveness of existing public health measures including patient admission, screening, standard operating procedure (SOP) for pandemic prevention and the movement-control orders.

“Are we acting faster than the virus infection? If not, it will only increase the number of cases.

“Many infections are spread by asymptomatic people who have not been isolated or detected,” he said.

Selangor is the hardest-hit state for Covid-19 cases, with long queues at its CACs.

The number of confirmed cases in a single day in Selangor in the past week has remained above 4,000, and yesterday the state recorded one of its highest tallies, at 6,049.

The number of daily Covid-19 cases in Klang Valley in the past week accounted for about half of the country’s total cases.

Lee said that the vaccination rate has to be sped up in Selangor to avoid a high number of severe cases from these undetected asymptomatic patients.

“We said early on that the vaccination centres should be located in the Klang Valley because it is the hardest-hit Covid-19 area.

“After inoculation is completed in severe infection areas, the other areas which are experiencing the spill over of the hardest-hit areas can also be controlled then,” Lee said.

Long queues

Associate Professor Dr Chee Hui Yee, from the faculty of medicine and health sciences at Universiti Putra Malaysia, meanwhile said the long queues at the CACs could drive away asymptomatic or mild Covid-19 patients from screening.

“In the past, you might be fined if you did not follow the CACs call instruction. However, there may be no staff making similar arrangements under the current serious situation in Selangor.

“It is no longer possible to follow up, so some may take advantage and not go to the CAC for the long queues.

“If there are 2,000 people in line at the CAC, how many people are willing to line up?” Chee said.

She added that people might also face transportation issues if CACs are located far away from their houses.

“Should you call for e-hailing, or trouble your relatives to take to the CAC? And they are also worried about spreading the virus to the driver,” Chee said.

According to the Ministry of Health’s data, mild and asymptomatic patients accounted for more than 90% of the daily new cases in the nation.

MOH also said the number of newly diagnosed asymptomatic and mild Covid-19 patients (Category 1 and 2) in a single day were 51.9% and 46.6% respectively on July 16, compared with 0.7% for Category 3, also 0.4% for Category 4 and 5.

Yesterday there were 7,179 cases were under Category 1 (asymptomatic), 5,646 cases under Category 2 (mild symptoms), 124 cases under Category 3 (pneumonia), 72 cases under Category 4 (pneumonia and require oxygen support) and 13 cases under Category 5 (those in critical condition and in need of respiratory assistance through ventilation). – July 23, 2021.