By Xavier Kong
HEALTH director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah shared that four more cases were detected at the old folk’s home in Kuala Selangor, bringing the total number of cases there to seven.
According to Dr Noor Hisham, a total of 64 people were screened as targeted contact tracing for the cluster – 12 staff, 24 residents, 10 family members, 13 healthcare workers and five members of the public.
Other than the seven cases that have been detected, 43 tested negative and the remaining 14 are awaiting their test results.
Including the four new confirmed cases, there were 10 confirmed cases reported today. None were imported cases, while three were non-Malaysians and the remaining seven were Malaysians who were locally infected. This brings the total number of cases to 8,515.
140 new recoveries were also reported, bringing the total number of discharged patients to 7,873. Active transmission cases now stand at 521, of whom four are in intensive care and none require ventilator support. No deaths were reported today, keeping the death toll at 121.
Dr Noor Hisham also took note of the randomised clinical trials of dexamethasone, with early results showing that it can reduce the risk of death from Covid-19 by a third for patients who have difficulty breathing and require ventilator support.
However, he noted that the study had also shown that it is not effective as a treatment for those with light symptoms or for those patients who do not require ventilator support. He shared that this is an important discovery in seeking a treatment for Covid-19.
Dr Noor Hisham also warned Malaysians not to abuse the drug, or to take the medication without a prescription. This is due to the side effects of the drug, which have to be balanced against the effectiveness of the drug for the patient.
The side effects include the thinning of the skin, increased risk of infection and complications, along with loss of bone mass and muscle weakness.
“The ministry’s recommendation is five days worth of usage, as prolonged usage will have more pronounced side effects,” said Dr Noor Hisham. – June 17, 2020
