ABSTRACT
@#Introduction Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) was declared a pandemic in the middle of March as the disease is highly contagious and spread very quickly throughout the world. Understanding the knowledge and practice among healthcare staff is also crucial, especially among the frontlines staff, as they need to protect themselves and facilitate in educating their patients and public regarding disease prevention measures. This study's objective is to assess knowledge, practice, and perception on the effectiveness of the preventive measures taken by Ministry of Health (MOH) staff to prevent transmission of the disease and measures they would take should they develop symptoms of the disease on COVID-19 disease. (TPB). Methods We conducted a cross-sectional online survey from 30th March 2020 to 6th April 2020 among the Ministry of Health staff. 1719 staff completed the survey. Results The overall correct rate of knowledge was 46.6%. Most participants held good perceptions (range from 77.8% to 98.4%) and good practices (range from 88.8% to 99.7%) towards COVID-19 preventive measure. Meanwhile, the preventive measures practices if they develop symptoms of COVID-19 range from 89.8% to 99.7% and for the perception, it ranges from 85.5% to 98.9%. Conclusions There are also still some lower percentages of perceptions and practices than expected. Additional education intervention and campaigns are required to provide the Ministry of health staff with adequate knowledge towards COVID19 main symptoms, general knowledge and transmission route of COVID-19, and increase some of the perceptions and practices on COVID-19 preventive measures. Keywords
ABSTRACT
@#Background: Pre-existing comorbidities can predict severe disease requiring intensive care unit (ICU) admission among COVID-19 cases. We compared comorbidities, clinical features and other predictive factors between COVID-19 patients requiring ICU admission for intubation/mechanical ventilation and all other COVID-19 cases in Selangor, Malaysia. Methods: Field data collected during the COVID-19 outbreak in Selangor, Malaysia, up to 13 April 2020 were used, comprising socio-demographic characteristics, comorbidities and presenting symptoms of COVID-19 cases. ICU admission was determined from medical records. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to identify factors associated with ICU admission requiring intubation/mechanical ventilation among COVID-19 cases. Results: A total of 1287 COVID-19-positive cases were included for analysis. The most common comorbidities were hypertension (15.5%) and diabetes (11.0%). More than one third of cases presented with fever (43.8%) or cough (37.1%). Of the 25 cases that required intubation/mechanical ventilation, 68.0% had hypertension, 88.0% had fever, 40.0% had dyspnoea and 44.0% were lethargic. Multivariate regression showed that cases that required intubation/mechanical ventilation had significantly higher odds of being older (aged 360 years) [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 3.9] and having hypertension (aOR = 5.7), fever (aOR = 9.8), dyspnoea (aOR = 9.6) or lethargy (aOR = 7.9) than cases that did not require intubation/mechanical ventilation. Conclusion: The COVID-19 cases in Selangor, Malaysia requiring intubation/mechanical ventilation were significantly older, with a higher proportion of hypertension and symptoms of fever, dyspnoea and lethargy. These risk factors have been reported previously for severe COVID-19 cases, and highlight the role that ageing and underlying comorbidities play in severe outcomes to respiratory disease.