Thanks to success of PICK, 98 per cent of COVID-19 cases are mild - Khairy

KUALA LUMPUR: The success of the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) has ensured that almost 98 per cent of COVID-19 cases suffered only mild symptoms, said Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

In a Twitter post today, he said in the current transition to endemic phase, these cases required only self-isolation at home without being referred to hospitals.

"A total of 97.6 per cent of COVID-19 patients underwent quarantine at home, 0.2 per cent at COVID-19 Quarantine and Treatment Centres, two per cent in hospitals, 0.1 per cent at Intensive Care Unit (ICU) without using ventilators and 0.1 per cent at ICU with use of ventilators," he said.

According to Khairy, monitoring by the Virtual COVID-19 Assessment Centre was made through the MySejahtera application which required patients to fill in the health assessment tool (HAT) twice a day regarding their symptoms.

More than 70 per cent of COVID-19 cases at home filled in HAT every day and this data was used to identify cases which deteriorated and needed to be referred to hospitals, he added.

If the HAT data of COVID-19 patients showed sharp deterioration, a notification would be sent offering patients the option of going to a health facility.

Malaysia recorded 11,994 positive cases of COVID-19 yesterday (April 7), with 11,904 cases or 99.25 per cent in categories one and two with mild symptoms while 90 cases or 0.75 per cent were in categories three, four and five.

-- BERNAMA