PUTRAJAYA, April 28 — Kelantan hospitals have reached or exceeded bed capacity for Covid-19 patients, amid a surge of infections, forcing care to be stepped down for less severe cases, Dr Adham Baba said today.
The health minister, during a joint press conference with Vaccine Minister Khairy Jamaluddin on the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) here today, said that the Covid-19 bed occupancy rate in Sultan Ismail Petra Hospital in Kuala Krai is at 111 per cent, Tanah Merah Hospital (100 per cent), Tumpat Hospital (95 per cent), Machang Hospital (96 per cent), and Kuala Krai Lama Hospital (82 per cent).
“So, Covid-19 cases that we are treating in these hospitals are either Stage Four and Stage Five. For Stage Three cases, we will step down care to low-risk quarantine and treatment centres (PKRC),” Dr Adham said.
Stage One Covid-19 means that a person is infected with Covid-19, but does not have symptoms. Stage Two is when a person has mild symptoms of Covid-19. Stage Three — clinically categorised as moderate disease — is when the patient develops pneumonia because of the coronavirus infection.
Severe Covid-19 disease is in the fourth and five stages. Stage Four Covid-19 means that the patient will require supplemental oxygen, while Stage Five is when the patient is in critical condition with multiorgan involvement of the Covid-19 disease.
“For Stage One and Two, we will treat at home through the Covid-19 Assesement Centre (CAC),” Dr Adham said.
The CAC’s role is to assess Covid-19 positive patients to see if they are suitable to be quarantined at home. CAC staff will monitor patients who are quarantined at home using the Home Assessment Tool.
“Kelantan has implemented a Movement Control Order, which means no inter-district travel, and most of the social sector is closed except for essential services,” Dr Adham added.
Over the past 15 days, Kelantan has continuously reported three-digit Covid-19 cases every day. Yesterday, Kelantan reported 484 new daily infections, which translates to 25.4 cases per 100,000 population, triple the nationwide incidence rate of 8.4 cases per 100,000 population.
Kelantan, which has poor health infrastructure, reported an average 468 Covid-19 cases a day in the past week.
