Covid-19: Hospitals nearing limit as number of infections rises, says Health DG

PUTRAJAYA: Covid-19 hospitals and low-risk treatment centres are nearing its limit as the number of infections continues to rise, says the Health Ministry.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the country’s hospitals could accommodate 23,000 patients at a time.

However, the number of active cases in the country has reached 22,089 currently.

“At present, we can still accommodate the patients. But we are currently making preparations in anticipation of more increase.

“As 90% of cases are those who are low risk and asymptomatic, we are considering letting these patients be quarantined at home, ” said Dr Noor Hisham at the ministry’s Covid-19 press conference here Monday (Jan 4).

On another matter, Dr Noor Hisham said the government does not intend to increase its 10-day quarantine order for visitors following the discovery of new mutations of Covid-19 in parts of the world.

This included the decision by Hong Kong to increase its quarantine period from 14 days to 21 days for visitors.

“Based on our cases, most people are found positive for the virus on the third or fifth day.

“We use 10 days as the standard period for quarantine. There are some countries who use seven days, but we chose to go with 10.

“So far in 2021, the accepted incubation period is 14 days, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

“This has not changed, ” said Dr Noor Hisham.