ABSTRACT
Covid-19 pandemic has been the cause of the most significant global revolution in recent times. The attack from an invisible enemy had caught the world unprepared since its first reported outbreak from Wuhan, China, in 2019. As a result, challenges arising from that of unimaginable proportions soon followed suit, and the world felt the impact of those challenges on so many levels. Most of the economy's industries had been greatly affected, with the construction industry being one of the hardest hit. Sarawak's construction industry is not spared either, as several construction site clusters resulting from workers' quarters popped up from the circle. The scenario creates awareness of the importance of improving the quality of workers' quarters. The Sarawak State Government, through its Ministry of Public Health, Housing and Local Government, had formulated a guideline for Local Authorities on the temporary permit application for workers' quarters' building within construction sites. The response of the permit is studied using a qualitative approach through a case study of workers' quarters within construction sites in the jurisdiction of Kuching City South as the primary research method. The study is mainly based on observation and literature review and discusses the permit implementation response among the construction industry players. The findings from this paper conclude that the implementation of the permit could be observed further to capture a greater level of compliance and accountability to improve the quality of workers' quarters for occupational safety and the general health of labourers. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a serious global health problem that was first detected in Wuhan, China. Insufficient level of knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) towards the preventive measures of COVID-19 lead to the economic downturn, rise in the number of infected people daily and increase mortality rate. Objective(s): This study was conducted to evaluate KAP towards COVID-19 preventive measures and symptoms among individuals living in Kedah. Material(s) and Method(s): A cross-sectional study was conducted by distributing online questionnaires among 388 individuals living in different districts in Kedah. Descriptive frequency analysis was used to summarise the socio-demographic characteristics. Chi-Square Test and Fisher Exact Test were used to identify the association between demographic characteristics and level of KAP. Spearman's correlation was used to assess the relationship between the dependent variables. Result(s) and Conclusion(s): The mean score obtained for knowledge, attitude, and practice were 9.67 +/- 1.64, 20.89 +/- 3.03 and 10.13 +/- 1.12, respectively. A significant association (p< 0.05) was found between respondent's demographic characteristics with the level of knowledge (age, gender, level of education, marital status, occupation), and level of practice (gender, level of education). This study also reported no significant association between respondent's demographic characteristics with the level of attitude. There was a positive correlation between knowledge - attitude (rs =0.103, p<0.05), knowledge - practice (rs =0.111, p<0.05) and attitude - practice (rs =0.207, p<0.05). This study shows that the greater a person's level of knowledge, the higher the level of attitude and practice. This study will provide essential groundwork data to help health officials facilitate the implementation of effective policy regarding COVID-19 preventive measures in Kedah.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: : In January 2020, COVID-19 was declared a public health emergency of international concern which targets the human respiratory tract. Since then, scientists have been developing vaccines to curb the spread and reduce the likelihood of severe effects from the infection. Several brands of vaccines are available (Pfizer-BioNtech, AstraZeneca/Oxford and Sinovac) and it was reported that people experienced a various range of side effects from them. Objective(s): This study was conducted to compare the side effects between different brands of COVID-19 vaccines among Malaysia adult population. Material(s) and Method(s): A cross-sectional study was conducted among 410 Malaysian adults by distributing online questionnaires via various platforms. Descriptive data was presented as frequency and percentages or means and standard deviations of means. The severity of side effects among different age group and gender of Malaysian population who has received three doses of COVID- 19 vaccination were analysed by using Chi square test. P-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Result(s) and Conclusion(s): The most common side effects experienced were fever, pain or swelling at the injection site, sleepiness and exhaustion, stiffness in joints and muscles, and headache following vaccination. It was found out that majority of the respondents experienced most severe side effects with Pfizer-BioNtech compared with two AstraZeneca/Oxford and Sinovac. Majority of the respondents also reported mild symptoms following the first, second and third dose. There was also a significant association between gender, age, level of severity and type of brands of vaccines. Findings from this study can provide data on the most suitable coping as well as solution or treatment to treat the side effects. In addition, this study will also benefit the researchers and scientists in vaccinology to create and produce new vaccines with fewer side effects or without any rare adverse event.
ABSTRACT
The current study conducted for evaluating serum interleukin-1 (IL-1) and IL-6 level among Iraqi patients with COVID-19 (cov-19). The total number of patients positive with (cov-19) were 295. Seventy-one of them used to assessed IL-1and IL-6 and compare with 31 healthy subjects. The study revealed a high percentage of infected males (56.3%) compared to females (43.7%). The infection restricted between age 20-50 years old which represents 82.4% of all infected cases, while there is no infection recorded under the age of 10 years old. The age of 40-49 years is the most affected range (22.9%). Positive Female percentage was high only in the age group (10-19) that represents 4.7% of the total number. Both IL-1 and IL-6 show a highly significant increment in patients positive with cov-19 (p<0.0001). Copyright © 2022, Biochemical and Cellular Archives. All Rights Reserved.