Search

IntroductionThe rapid spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) worldwide has led the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic on March 11, 2020. As of 17 April 2020, Malaysia has recorded 5,251 COVID-19 positive cases with 86 deaths, with the state of Selangor recorded the highest number of confirmed cases (1,338).There is increasing evidence that many patients with COVID-19 are asymptomatic or have only mild symptoms. Asymptomatic COVID-19 individuals have still the potential to infect others without ever knowing they are carrying and potentially spreading the virus, which could cause difficulties in COVID-19 prevention and control. Petaling district in Selangor was previously declared as COVID-19 red zone. Hence, this study aims to determine the factors associated with asymptomatic COVID-19 patients in the district of Petaling in Malaysia. MethodsStudy design: A cross-sectional study using secondary data • Data of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases notified to the Petaling District Health Office, Selangor, Malaysia between 3 February 2020 and 30 April 2020 was obtained and analysed. • Ethical approval for this study was obtained from the Medical Research and Ethics Committee (MREC), Malaysia (NMRR-20-720-54598). • An asymptomatic laboratory-confirmed case is a person infected with COVID-19 who does not develop any symptoms. • Descriptive and multivariable logistic regression analyses were conducted using SPSS 23.0 to determine the factors associated with asymptomatic cases. Results[Refer to Poster]. Discussion / ConclusionApproximately one-third of COVID-19 patients in Petaling district were asymptomatic and the risk factors identified were younger age, non-Malaysians and local transmission. • Studies have shown that asymptomatic cases were more common in young and middle-aged individuals, suggesting that age and body condition may play an important role in the severity of COVID-19, possibly related to different immune responses and other potential pathogenesis.3 • Rigorous epidemiological investigation and laboratory examinations are helpful in identifying COVID-19 among these group of people who are asymptomatic. • Appropriate strategies, such as social distancing, wearing face masks in public, frequent hand washing should be strongly implemented to prevent disease transmission from asymptomatic individuals.

IntroductionMalaysia has an increasingly aging population and will be classified as an aging nation by the year 2030 when 14% of the population will be ≥60 years, and this will further increase to 24% by 2050. Older adults are generally less physically active than younger adults. Physical inactivity in older adults is related to increased risk of chronic diseases, disability and various poor health outcomes. Regular physical activity in older people is important to improve overall health and promote healthy aging. This study aims to determine the prevalence of physical inactivity and its associated factors among older adults aged ≥60 years in Malaysia. MethodsData on older adults aged ≥60 years (n=3977) were obtained from the National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) 2018: Elderly Health, a population-based cross-sectional survey using a two-stage stratified sampling design. Physical inactivity levels were assessed using the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ) via face-to-face interview. Participants were classified as physically inactive ( ResultsMultivariable analysis showed that older age group (≥80 years, OR=2.23; 95% CI:1.42-3.48), of Bumiputera Sarawak ethnicity (OR=3.07; 95% CI: 2.19-4.28), unemployed/retirees/homemakers (OR=1.67; 95% CI:1.18-2.36), functional limitation (OR=1.75; 95% CI:1.31-2.34), diabetes mellitus (OR=1.39; 95% CI:1.11-1.74) and dementia (OR=1.64; 95% CI:1.21-2.21) were significantly associated with a higher risk of physical inactivity (Table 1). Women, with secondary education level and good social support were less likely to be physically inactive (Table 1). Discussion and ConclusionThe prevalence of physical inactivity (29.8%) in this study is comparable to those reported in Singapore (29.0%, among age group 60-79 years), and is slightly higher than in China (24.1%, among age group ≥50 years) and India (22.0%, among age group ≥50 years). Prevalence of physical inactivity significantly increased as age increases. The current finding of women being more physically active than men is similar to findings from a study among the elderly population in Thailand. In Malaysian cultures, women in their late 50s and early 60s generally carry out more household chores, such as cooking, cleaning, sweeping and looking after grandchildren, which could be the reason for them being more physically active than men. Interventions that promote or maintain physical activity behaviour among older adults should be targeted to high-risk groups such as those with functional limitation, diabetes mellitus and dementia. Our findings suggested that a higher level of social support among older adults may be a key factor in motivating older people to participate in physical activity. &nbsp

IntroductionIn December 2019, an epidemic of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) began in China and the number of countries infected by the virus has continued to rise. This phenomenon has led WHO to declare Covid-19 as pandemic on March 11, 2020, and has urged all affected countries to take urgent and aggressive action to control this pandemic. Most of the countries affected by the Covid-19 pandemic were recommended to adopt the containment and mitigation measures in order to control the disease from spreading. Briefly, the containment measures aimed at preventing the disease from taking hold, encompassing early detection, isolation, and care of people already infected, with careful tracing and screening of their contacts. While, mitigation measures aimed at reducing the impact and its incidence, as well as disruptions to economic, political, and social systems, encompassing social distancing strategies such as the cancellation of conferences and other large gatherings, reducing non-essential use of public transport, and closure of schools. ObjectiveThe aim of this study is to determine the control methods used in containment and mitigation of the Covid-19 virus from the affected countries and to ascertain what are the best methods in Covid-19 transmission control. MethodologyIn our study, a scoping review approach in searching, screening, reviewing and data extraction was applied based on framework by Arksey and O’Malley. A comprehensive search strategy was performed, which included published scientific journals, unpublished work, grey literature using the MESH terms of “Novel coronavirus,” “Novel coronavirus 2019”, “2019 nCoV”, “Covid-19”, “Wuhan coronavirus”, “SARS-CoV-2”, “Containment”, “Mitigation” and “Control”. Two reviewers independently screened all references from the articles search and then reached consensus on which met the eligibility criteria. Two reviewers independently screened all references from the articles search and then reached consensus on which met the eligibility criteria. Non-English language articles were excluded as the translation was not practical. Data from the articles were extracted and summarized on a standardized form with the data reviewed by both authors. ResultsA total of 996 sources of evidence identified from the literature search and grey literature hand search were included in the review, representing the types of containment and mitigation from four regions; i. Western Pacific and South East Asia, ii. European, iii. Eastern Mediterranean, and iv. The Americas. After completion of the initial screening, 922 articles were excluded for the following reasons: the article did not meet the inclusion criteria (N = 862), the article was a duplicate (N = 60). The remaining 72 articles were screened at the full-text level. After full review for relevancy, 41 articles were excluded and a total of 31 articles were selected for scoping review (Figure 1;).After more than one month of the containment and mitigation control measures taken, most of the countries managed to reduce the Covid-19 cases from spreading in the communities [45]. However, the two most successful countries that managed to control this pandemic were Hong Kong and South Korea. While, the United States of America (USA) and Brazil are the countries yet unable to significantly reduce the Covid-19 cases (Table 1). ConclusionThis review revealed all countries affected by the Covid-19 had implemented multiple containment and mitigation measures to reduce the impact of the disease. Thus, making it difficult to measure the effectiveness of each individual method. A combination of multiple control measures is necessary, since this could increase the success in reducing the transmission of the Covid-19 disease. In addition, the aggressiveness of government efforts and the compliance among the population are the main factors for the effectiveness of the containment and mitigation measures implemented. Lastly, the efforts should be directed at the creation of standard guidelines to improve the containment and mitigation efforts, considering the characteristics of the virus and community acceptance.