Covid-19: If you test positive, stay home, wait for ambulance

PUTRAJAYA: If your Covid-19 test results are positive but your ambulance ride to the hospital is taking some time, stay put and remain calm at home, says Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah at a press conference on Wednesday (Dec 16).

He was commenting on claims that some patients had to wait for days before they were taken by ambulance to hospital.

He said there were certain limitations which may cause delays in getting patients to hospitals, which might take days.

Most importantly, the patient must remain at home and keeps a distance from other people to prevent from infecting them.

“We advise all those who have tested for Covid-19 and believe they have been exposed to positive cases to just stay at home while waiting for their results.

“Let the local district health office know as well.

"Ambulances will be dispatched to pick them up to go to hospitals. If there are delays, what is important is for you to remain at home, ” said Dr Noor Hisham.

He said one possible reason for delays was data integration issues between private laboratories and the Health Ministry’s system.

“Many private labs do not have data integration with our public health information system. So with Covid-19 tests by the labs may cause a delay.

“If a test result at a private lab came back positive, the data needs to be integrated into our system. They must inform the district health office, and the follow up action will be done as soon as possible.

“There may be some constraints so in the meantime, stay at home, ” he said.