COVID-19 in Kota Kinabalu: What you should know about the current situation.

When should you suspect yourself having COVID-19? 

When you develop symptoms of SHORTNESS OF BREATH, COUGH or SORE THROAT with or without fever

+

have been to a PLACE or EVENT with known COVID-19 cluster

OR

CLOSE CONTACT with a person confirmed with COVID-19 in the past 2 weeks

OR

TRAVELING HISTORY to a foreign country before having symptoms in the past 2 weeks

KKM Annex 1: DEFINITION OF PERSON UNDER INVESTIGATION (PUI)

Important!

 

In KK, 91% of cases are not linked to any known clusters, events or history of traveling. People are screened because they only have symptoms. Some of these patients did not even have fever as a symptom. Therefore the temperature check is not going to help much in identifying who to suspect. It means there are many people without symptoms who are potentially infectious still moving around and there is no way we can trace the source of the spreader. This means the more people you meet, the higher the chances of you coming in contact with one of those asymptomatic spreaders. You may even be a spreader without realizing it. THIS IS WORRYING the medical team in Sabah. THIS IS A PRE-MEGA SURGE TREND. We may be heading for 1000 new cases per day by the end of October 2020!

As of now the ICU beds in QEH 1 are already full according to colleagues working there.

If we refer to our national statistics, in order to "flatten the curve", our new cases number from 7-11 October should be below 500 case per day and downward trend. However if you isolate the figures for Sabah in the following graph it reveals a disturbing fact.

As of 11th October 2020, Sabah had a 76% jump to a new high from to 488 cases per day! Our Sabah healthcare system is truly being "tested" as Tan Sri DG puts it. Berita Harian today (12/10/2020) carries the title, "Perang COVID-19 di Sabah sedang mencapai tempoh kritikal" says it all.

 

How is COVID-19 infection confirmed?

1.     Positive RT-PCR (Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction)- Nasopharyngeal Swab test

2.     2 positive RTK-Ag (Rapid Test Kit- Antigen) 14 days apart- Nasopharyngeal Swab test

 

IF Positive for COVID-19 will I be admitted to the HOSPITAL, sent to QUARANTINE CENTER or given HOME QUARANTINE?

For details refer KKM Annex 2: MANAGEMENT OF PUI AND CONFIRMED COVID-19 CASES

Not all COVID-19 positive patients need to be admitted. In view of the very likely possibility that wards and quarantine centers in KK are full, home quarantine can be done if these requirements at home are fulfilled:

1. Have separate bedroom and bathroom that is not shared with other family members.
2. Have access to food and other necessities.
3. Has access to face masks, gloves and disinfectant at home.
4. Able to seek medical care if necessary and return with own private transport.
5. Able to follow instructions for home surveillance.
6. No family members at home who are considered high risk e.g. elderly, young children, having chronic diseases.

 DO NOT go for RTK-Ab (Rapid Test Kit-Antibody as a confirmatory test or screening method because if it is positive, it does not reflect the current presence or infectious status of the virus. It merely indicates past exposure to COVID-19. If it is negative, it does not mean that the person is not exposed to the virus. It is possible that the antibody to COVID-19 has not developed at the time the test was done and the antibody could develop later and result in a positive result. Therefore, DO NOT DO RTK-Ab test on your own to avoid such diagnostic confusion.

(Click here to watch Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham's explaination on this issue)

What should you do if you feel unwell?

If you feel unwell (FEVER, COUGH, SORETHROAT, SHORTNESS OF BREATH) and worries about the possibility of getting COVID-19, please do not go for COVID-19 testing immediately. The first thing you should do is to put on a mask, use hand sanitizers or wash your hands before and after you touch anything. Most importantly STAY AT HOME! Do not go anywhere, not even to the clinic yet. Give your doctor a call. Let the doctor talk to you to find out more about your symptoms. If you could video call your doctor even better. Let your doctor decide if the symptoms and history presented are consistent with COVID-19 or not. It could be other diseases e.g. heart attack, lung infection, dengue or other medical conditions that should be managed differently instead of going to the lab to request for a COVID-19 test.

 

After assessing you remotely, if the doctor thinks that you are not so ill to warrant a visit to the hospital or clinic, he might just prescribe you with some medicine to control the symptoms first. Please keep in touch with your doctor to update your condition. If it is just common cold or mild upper respiratory tract infection, you would feel better or at least your symptoms would not worsen. However, if you feel your symptoms worsen especially SHORTNESS OF BREATH, then your doctor may advise you to go to the hospital straight away for further testing to rule out COVID-19.

 

The reason I would prefer patients to home quarantine themselves if they are qualified is because I assume they could rest and be better cared for at home. Bear in mind that if you are not able to physically isolate yourself from other family members, then please consider going to the quarantine center.

 

The spread of COVID-19 can only be stopped if everyone minimizes their movement and contact with other people. Doing RT-PCR or RTK-Ag alone will not help. STAYING AT HOME WILL HELP to break the chain of infection. This is especially true for asymptomatic spreaders. Everyone must have this mindset that they could potentially be positive therefore they must avoid spreading the virus to other people. Everyone must also assume everybody they meet could potentially be positive therefore do their best to avoid being infected. All these could be easily achieved with faithful adherence to wearing mask, using hand sanitizer and social distancing or just STAYING AT HOME!

 

Our politicians currently have a lot at stake i.e. power struggle, economic recession, political instability. They will always take the middle path or the path with the least resistance to maximize the number of people they will please. The health policy makers and technocrats are also not independent of their political masters. They are not supposed to issue any public statement that would jeopardize the peace and cause society to panic.

 

For us common people, OUR PRIORITY IS TO KEEP OURSELVES AND OUR LOVED ONES SAFE. That is all that matters for the time being. So do what is right. #kitajagakita