ABSTRACT
COVID-19 has rapidly impacted on mortality worldwide. Early identification of COVID-19 cases in community at high risk of death can enhance patient treatment and resource allocation. The goal of this study is to identify the characteristics of COVID-19 mortality cases in Kubang Pasu districts in 2021. Data on mortality cases in the year 2021 in Kubang Pasu district were collected, extracted and analyzed. There are 210 (1.9%) mortality cases had been recorded in 2021 due to COVID-19 infection form 11019 COVID-19 cases in Kubang Pasu district. The mortality cases consist of 108(51%) female and 102(49%) male. The highest mortality cases involved the age group of more than 70 years old with 73 (34.8%) cases. The highest race was Malay 193(91.9%), followed by non-Malaysian(2.9%), Chinese 4(1.9%), Siamese 4(1.9%) and Indian 3(1.4%) respectively. Most of the mortality cases are unvaccinated 153 (72.9%). The most coomon cause of death is due to COVID-19 pneumonia with 205 (97.5%) cases. Majority of the cases were screen through symptomatic screening and close contact screening 86 (40.9%) cases and 52 (24.8%) respectively. Among the mortality cases, there are 22(10.5%) brought-in-death cases which 19 (86%) cases are Malay. Most of the brought-in-death cases are unvaccinated, 19 (86%) cases, incomplete vaccine 1 (5%) case and 2 (9%) cases completed vaccine. The highest number of mortality cases occur among those with age more than 70. It involved mostly among Malay race and they were unvaccinated. Lung complication is the main cause of death since most of the mortality cases passed away due to pneumonia. This high number of mortality and BID cases might be attributed to poor health-seeking behaviour among the Kubang Pasu population with COVID-19. Promotion activities about COVID-19 and vaccine should be strengthened further to improve the knowledge and actions towards COVID-19 in community. © 2022, Malaysian Journal of Public Health Medicine. All Rights Reserved.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: Social media and Internet use during disasters have been proven to be useful tools in helping public health agencies to respond to pandemics. However, this tool can also be the culprit in the spread of misinformation to the public. This study aims to identify the public health impact of misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic using the socio-ecological model. Methods: A systematic review guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines was initially undertaken by searching relevant articles published from January to November 2020 in several electronic databases including Medline, PubMed, and Springer link. All publications produced in English regarding the impact of misinformation during the COVID-19 outbreak were included except review articles. Results: Eleven articles were identified from these databases. The public health impact of misinformation from these articles was analysed and discussed according to the domains of the socio-ecological model. It was found that various elements of misinformation on the COVID-19 pandemic caused a significant impact on the individual, interpersonal, organisational, community, and policy levels across various nations. Conclusion: This study concludes that addressing misinformation during a pandemic such as the COVID-19 phenomenon is an important measure to improve public health response in mitigating the spread of pandemics. © 2023 Authors. All rights reserved.