By Nasuha Badrul Huzaini
SHAH ALAM, Aug 24 — The Selangor Task Force Covid-19 (STFC) was formed to complement the efforts undertaken by the Health Ministry (MOH) and the Selangor State Health Department (JKNS) to curb the spread of Covid-19 in the state.
State executive councillor for public health Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud said the task force acts as a think tank by giving advice and suggesting initiatives that the state government could implement.
She said the initiatives include the SELangkah system and the standard operating procedures (SOPs) Alert System.
“SELangkah is a contact tracing system that uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) for risk mapping, which is done anonymously to help provide preliminary information of the areas where the probability of Covid-19 infection transmission is high. The information is available to the public so they can act accordingly.
“As for the Alert System, it is implemented to various sectors, namely the economic sector including business and night markets, the social sector as well as houses of worship.
“The system was designed based on code of colours in the respective localities according to the number of Covid-19 positive cases detected within the area,” she told the Selangor State Legislative Assembly today.
Dr Siti Mariah said in 2020, STFC had also organised the targeted Covid-19 mass screenings for high-risk groups and red zone areas across the state.
“The effort continued on this year with a free community screening programme in the 56 state constituencies. This initiative managed to trace Covid-19 positive cases, especially among the asymptomatic patient.
“The initiative was carried out based on the FTTIS (find, test, trace, isolate, support) approach as suggested by the World Health Organisation (WHO),” she said.
The Seri Serdang state representative said STFC had also introduced Prevention of Outbreak At Ignition Sites (POIS) early this year, designed to curb and reduce workplace clusters.
“The screening of the workers is fully borne by the employers, and the initiative helps to guide them in preventing the Covid-19 infection among its workers,” she said.
Other initiatives carried out by STFC include setting up a rapid response team through the Selangor Community Health Volunteers (SUKA).
She said STFC also plays an essential role in the Selangor Vaccination Programme (Selvax), aiming to achieve the herd immunity target in Selangor and have the economic frontliners to be vaccinated.
