KUALA LUMPUR, August 13 — About 80,000 positive Covid-19 cases in the Greater Klang Valley are currently undergoing self-isolation, Greater Klang Valley Special Task Force (GKVSTF) chief Dr Chong Chee Kheong said today.
He said half of these 80,000 cases monitored by the virtual Covid-19 Assessment Centre (CAC) were asymptomatic in Category One, 30 per cent with mild symptoms in Category Two, while 20 per cent showed warning signs.
Among the 16,000 Covid-19 cases under home quarantine who displayed signs of deteriorating conditions, he said 8 per cent must be contacted online, while the remainder will be contacted via SMS or robocall.
“We also mobilised additional human resources from other agencies and volunteers totalling 1,000 people for call centres and contact tracing,” Dr Chong told a Ministry of Health (MOH) press conference.
The Health deputy director-general added that the Greater Klang Valley region — which encompasses Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Putrajaya, and Negeri Sembilan — recorded an average of 8,000 to 12,000 new coronavirus cases daily in the past week, with a slight decline this week.
On average, about 1 to 2 per cent of these cases require treatment in hospitals or Covid-19 quarantine and treatment centres (PKRCs), a situation that Dr Chong described as “worrying” as 200 to 300 additional beds must be prepared daily for Covid-19 patients.
He said MOH has increased bed capacity in the Greater Klang Valley from 6,000 to 8,000 beds since the establishment of GKVSTF a month ago, “but we need to continuously add beds if the number of admissions does not decline”.
“At the moment, the present bed capacity can accommodate the situation for two weeks.”
MOH reported today the country’s second-highest ever daily tally of 21,468 new Covid-19 cases, including 10,672 infections in the Greater Klang Valley: Selangor (7,449), Kuala Lumpur (2,183), Putrajaya (66), and Negeri Sembilan (974).
Dr Chong also said MOH has started a digital tracker project to monitor individuals on home quarantine electronically. To date, 1,000 digital trackers have been given to travellers from abroad approved for self-isolation at home.
“This project was outsourced, where monitoring will be wholly conducted by the company,” he said, without specifying which company has received the project that procured a total of 30,000 digital trackers.
“Enforcement on the breach of home monitoring will be done by MOH with police assistance.”
