Health Ministry: Over 20,000 Covid-19 patients currently under home quarantine

PUTRAJAYA: More than 20,000 of the country’s Covid-19 patients are currently under home quarantine, says the Health Ministry.

In a statement, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah (pic) said patients who are allowed to be isolated at home are those considered low-risk by the Covid-19 Assessment Centre (CAC).

“The CAC was established to assess positive patients undergoing monitoring at home.

“Its services started on Jan 25. To date, there are 152 CAC centres operating nationwide and cumulatively, a total of 60,052 patients have been monitored by the CAC.

“Currently, CAC is monitoring a total of 20,089 patients who are undergoing isolation at home, ” said Dr Noor Hisham.

At present, Johor has the most patients under home quarantine (6,016), followed by Selangor (5,258) and Kuala Lumpur (4,489).

Sarawak is the only state that does not have any positive cases under home isolation, as the state still has adequate capacity at its hospitals and quarantine centres to handle patients.

The Health Ministry introduced home quarantine as a measure to address overcrowding at hospitals.

Dr Noor Hisham said those who are deemed suitable to undergo home quarantine will be isolated for 10 days.

“All patients will wear a wristband during their isolation period at home.

“They must perform self-monitoring during the isolation period through a Home Assessment Tool provided by CAC.

“These patients also need to report their health status every day, through the MySejahtera application, or when they are contacted by a health officer, ” he said.

Dr Noor Hisham said CAC acts as a reference centre to manage and conduct risk assessment on those who have tested positive for Covid-19.

“These patients are evaluated by public health physicians who are assisted by other clinical support members.

“The CACs mainly operate at stadiums, community halls, and government facilities.

Dr Noor Hisham said those who want to obtain more information on self-monitoring at home can check out the Health Ministry’s Covid-19 Malaysia portal, http://covid-19.moh.gov.my/.