SARI patients initially treated as COVID-19 cases - Health DG

All Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) patients must be treated as COVID-19 cases until proven otherwise, said Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

He said 12 healthcare workers were suspected of contracting COVID-19 after they were infected while treating pneumonia or SARI patients.

"So protection is very important for us; our healthcare workers must take precaution... all the necessary precaution to avoid getting the infection (COVID-19)," he said at a daily media briefing on COVID-19 here today.

Explaining further, Dr Noor Hisham said any patient who failed to give full information when seeking treatment could jeopardise the safety of healthcare workers.

"If a patient comes to our hospital and clinic and hides some of the information...then you put the healthcare workers at risk (of being infected with COVID-19)," he said.

He said healthcare workers had been told to treat those having cough and cold with symptoms of pneumonia as suspected COVID-19 cases until investigation showed otherwise.

-- BERNAMA