Covid-19: Over 9k cases in M'sia tracked via MySejahtera app

PUTRAJAYA: Over 9,000 of the country’s Covid-19 cases were detected through the MySejahtera application since it was launched on April 20, says the Health Ministry.

In a statement, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said most of the 9,167 cases identified through the app were from contact tracing activities.

“The MySejahtera app has helped the ministry to identify Covid-19 cases through two methods. One of them is through contact tracing, where the district health office uses MySejahtera’s database.

“Users who are potential close contacts of a Covid-19 patient can be traced through the app. As of Nov 18, the ministry has detected 7,606 cases through this method, ” said Dr Noor Hisham.

Another 1,561 cases were traced and confirmed positive through the self-assessment feature on the app.

“With the health self-assessment from the app, a Covid-19 case can be detected after an app user finds they are at risk for the virus based on the ministry’s guidelines, ” said Dr Noor Hisham.

The Utama cluster, which originated from a shopping mall in Petaling Jaya, saw a total of 221 positive cases identified from MySejahtera.

“A total of 1,343 individuals who visited the mall were earmarked for further assessment by the district health office. From the figure, 457 were classified as close contacts of the positive cases under the Utama cluster.

“Sample tests confirmed that 221 are positive cases, out of the 457, ” said Dr Noor Hisham.

Dr Noor Hisham also gave assurance that the MySejahtera app adheres to global standards in terms of data privacy and safety.

“The data that is collected by MySejahtera is used solely for contact tracing purposes and is governed by the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 and the Medical Act 1971.

“The personal details that are collected from users are also protected by the Personal Data Protection Act 2010. The check-in data will be archived after 30 days and will be destroyed after 90 days, ” he said.

The MySejahtera has recorded 1.7 billion cumulative check-ins using its QR code feature at registered premises, with an average of 15 million check-ins a day.