KUALA LUMPUR: The daily Covid-19 figures announced by the Health Ministry since the pandemic hit the country are genuine and based on nationwide reports, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham said.
He said there should not be any suspicion on the data as the Covid-19 data management system was monitored by the ministry through District Health Offices, State Health Departments and National Public Health Laboratory.
"Data from all states are received by 12 noon latest by the data management team at the National Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre (CPRC).
"After that, the data will be analysed and verified before they are registered. A review of all data will be carried out by officers at the CPRC.
"The data that has been registered as the daily Malaysian data will then be used for Covid-19 situational epidemiology analysis including the trends of cases, the infectious rates, Covid-19 clusters, hospitals and laboratories capacity as well as the effectiveness of the preventive and control measures.
"All of this revised information will then be edited for the preparation of the Health director-general's press statement and for him to make the final confirmation.
"Therefore, there shouldn't be any suspicion regarding the Covid-19 data management system and the daily data shared by ministry to the public," he said.
According to Dr Noor Hisham, all health officers involved in the data management, be it at the district or national level, was subjected to the relevant laws and was required to maintain the confidentiality of Covid-19 patients.
All test results conducted either at government health clinics, hospitals, or private health service facilities must be uploaded into the Public Health Laboratory Information System, Dr Noor Hisham said.
He said it was the responsibility of each state government to ensure the accuracy and validity of all daily Covid-19 data as well as the Covid-19 clinical data.
"Therefore, the data management system used must be transparent and (done with) high integrity."