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Brought-in-dead: Only 30pc knew they had Covid-19, says task force

KUALA LUMPUR: Only about 30 per cent of Covid-19 'brought-in-dead' (BID) cases were those who had been diagnosed with the virus before death.

The rest, according to Greater Klang Valley Special Task Force (GKV STF) Joint Commander Brigadier-General Dr Mohd Arshil Moideen, either failed to detect the infection or showed no symptoms at all.

He pointed out that the country was still recording high number of BID cases although there has been a downward trend of late.

More worrying, he said, were the BID cases involving those aged more that 60 years old as well as young people with comorbidities.

"There are high number of BID cases last week but there is a downward trend. At the same time, most of the victims are not visible in the system, meaning they themselves did not know they have been infected.

"This is our main concern when managing these cases. Right now, only about 30 per cent of the victims knew they are infected, the majority are unaware. We get a lot of patients with no noticeable symptoms but they succumb to the virus suddenly.

"When interviewing the next-of-kin, they said the victim suddenly 'collapsed' at home," he said during a briefing at the Covid-19 Integrated Quarantine and Treatment Centre (PKRC) 2.0 at Malaysia Agro Expo Park Serdang (MAEPS), yesterday.

He said the GKV special task force now has a higher BID area data around the Klang Valley and would focus on specific strategies in those locations.

"We will focus on this through specific strategies including the involvement of community leaders who need to be more vigilant with the current situation.

"We have a system to deal with this BID and it is running in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, this weekend," he said.

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