PETALING JAYA: People taking Covid-19 self-tests have been urged to report their results on MySejahtera.
Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said while testing protocols have been relaxed as Malaysia is transitioning into endemicity, reporting a positive test result on MySejahtera is still required by law.
“We asked that the people report their test results. Currently, by law, people who are infected with Covid-19 must report their results so they can be issued a Home Surveillance Order (HSO) and they must undergo quarantine at home.
“But of course, there are people who test positive and do not do this, even though it is required by law.
“We have reached the phase where we are learning to live with Covid-19. I do self-tests three times a week and I always report the results on MySejahtera.
“If we report our test results, it makes it easier for the Health Ministry to gauge the current situation in the community, even though the more important figures to focus on are hospitalisation and death rates,” said Khairy to reporters on Tuesday (Aug 9).
Khairy said the issue of Covid-19 underreporting is something that is happening all over the world, not just in Malaysia.
“The reported case figures are lower than the real situation on the ground. We have loosened the protocol for Covid-19 tests. Last time, we took a lot of RT-PCR tests but now it is mostly RTK self tests.
“And because of that, many take self-tests and they do not report to MySejahtera,” said Khairy.
The minister added that the more important metric to monitor for Covid-19 now that the country is transitioning out of a pandemic, is case severity.
“Instead of case numbers, we focus more on the number of hospitalisations and deaths. As long as these figures are low, the situation is under control. Case numbers will fluctuate from time to time,” said Khairy.