M’sia Going to Discharge COVID-19 Patients After 14 Days Even If They Still Test Positive

Previously, we have heard about the new paper stating that Covid-19 patients are no longer infectious 11 days after showing symptoms.

Well, turns out, we’re not the only ones thinking this way and Malaysia is starting to act.

M’sia Going to Discharge COVID-19 Patients After 14 Days Even If They Still Test Positive

On 27 May, the Malaysia health authorities said that even if Covid-19 patients still test positive for the PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test, they will be discharged from the hospital.

They came to this decision after receiving new information from the World Health Organisation (WHO).

“According to a (recent) World Health Organisation report, if they have passed the 14 days (of treatment), the chances of them infecting others are zero,” said the ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah

Even If It’s Positive, It Doesn’t Mean It’s Infectious

According to Dr Noor Hisham, even if the PCR test returns positive, it detected virus shedding or the fragment of a dead virus.

It’s a “weak positive” so “infectivity is almost zero”.

Previously, Malaysia only discharges its Covid-19 patients after they test negative twice for the PCR test within a period of more than 24 hours.

The protocol was then changed to one negative.

Malaysia currently has 7,604 Covid-19 cases with 115 fatalities.

They have been under the Movement Control Order (MCO) for more than 2 months now. If there’s no further extension, the MCO will be lifted on 8 June 2020.

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Paper: Covid-19 Patients No Longer Infectious After 11 Days

On 23 May, the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) and the Academy of Medicine’s Chapter of Infectious Disease Physicians released a position statement based on a “multi-centre study” of 73 patients.

Professor Leo Sin Yee, executive director of the NCID, is confident (scientifically) that a person is no longer infectious 11 days after the onset of symptoms.

The exceptions are patients with “weakened immune systems” where the virus might remain “viable” for a longer period.

The paper was also based on a small study conducted in Germany.

It was found that on the first week of illness, patients were spreading high amounts of viral shedding but on day 8, they stopped

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