PUTRAJAYA, April 5 — All Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) patients must be treated as Covid-19 cases until proven otherwise, said Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
He said 12 healthcare workers were suspected of contracting Covid-19 after they were infected while treating pneumonia or SARI patients.
“So protection is very important for us; our healthcare workers must take precaution … all the necessary precaution to avoid getting the infection (Covid-19),” he said at a daily media briefing on Covid-19 here yesterday.
Explaining further, Noor Hisham said any patient who failed to give full information when seeking treatment could jeopardise the safety of healthcare workers.
“If a patient comes to our hospital and clinic and hides some of the information … then you put the healthcare workers at risk (of being infected with Covid-19),” he said.
He said healthcare workers had been told to treat those having cough and cold with symptoms of pneumonia as suspected Covid-19 cases until investigation showed otherwise.
— Bernama
