SERDANG: About 91% of brought-in-dead (BID) cases involving Covid-19 were unaware they had contracted the virus, says Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.
He said this was based on an analysis done by the Health Ministry (MOH) on 113 BID cases between Feb 5 and 21.
"We saw an increase in BID cases - those who died before they could get treatment at health facilities - and this is worrying. We have done an analysis for this period and found that 91% did not realise they contracted Covid-19," said Khairy.
He added at a press conference on Thursday (March 3) that these cases came up positive when the Health Ministry did tests and advised the public, especially senior citizens with symptoms such as a fever and cough, to immediately seek treatment at health facilities.
"Based on the survey by the Ministry, more than 50% of the next-of-kin considered their sickness as mild and did not quickly refer them to health facilities, and it was too late by the time it was detected,” he said.
On reporting for Covid-19 deaths, Khairy said that beginning March 1, the announcement of such fatalities would be based on the figure received from the field every day.
"The Ministry has improved the reporting process for deaths. Previously, deaths reported would only be announced after the process of registering the cases was completed at the state level," said Khairy.
"Therefore, there was a delay on the announcement for a number of cases (deaths), and this is a contributing factor to the backlog on announcement of Covid-19 deaths,” he added.
Khairy then said that to ensure timeliness in reporting of Covid-19 deaths, fatal cases no longer have to wait for registration and should be reported within 72 hours after the deaths happened, he said.
He also said occupancy in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for Covid-19 patients is still under control, adding that MOH has 2,210 ICU beds which can be used throughout the country.
"Most of the ICU cases are those with high risks. So far, there are 361 Covid-19 patients in the ICU,” he added. - Bernama