What are Malaysia's Covid-19 plans for the festive and monsoon seasons?


A September 2020 photo of flood victims being evacuated from inundated settlements in Kapit division, central Sarawak. Could Covid-19 cases spread in crowded relief centres during this monsoon season? — Fire and Rescue Department Sarawak

It is the small gatherings in household settings that are fuelling the Covid-19 surge.

The director of the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Dr Robert Redfield, raised the alarm in October 2020 when reports showed that the spread of the virus in the community was taking place at social and family gatherings where people did not observe physical distancing or wear facemasks. This was due to people assuming that family members and friends were “healthy” and not infected since they did not show any symptoms. Infectious asymptomatic individuals then spread the virus to multiple people at just a single gathering. Dr Redfield called it the "silent epidemic" of asymptomatic Covid-19 infections in a tweet on Nov 5.

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Covid-19 , floods , asymptomatic , balik kampung

   

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