Malaysia and COVID-19: In Data We Trust

ABSTRACT

In pandemic situations, data becomes more critical. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in early November 2019, we have seen a significant increase in the number of dashboards tracking COVID-19 cases. Preferably, data should be available in tabular formats, such as comma-separated values easily downloadable from the data.world website (https//data.world/), GitHub (https//github.com/) or the Ministry of Health Malaysias official COVID-19 resource centre. v) Responsible agencies must vet the data to ensure reliability and validity. The Wellcome Trust and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation mandated that funding recipients share data from research related to COVID-19 (13). ii) Researchers must provide a list of their COVID-19 research projects and links to access and download the data. iii) Researchers must provide a COVID-19 data dictionary and adequate metadata. iv) Researchers must document the data-wrangling process so that it is reproducible. v) Researchers must indicate to the human ethics committee that their COVID-19 data will be shared and will not be destroyed within a specific time. Specifically, data from COVID-19 surveillance will enable epidemiologists, physicians and health workers to i) enable rapid detection, isolation, testing and management of cases;ii) monitor trends in COVID-19 deaths;iii) identify, follow up with and quarantine contacts;iv) detect and contain clusters and outbreaks, especially among vulnerable populations;v) guide the implementation and adjustment of targeted control measures while enabling the safe resumption of economic and social activities;vi) evaluate the pandemics impact on healthcare systems and society;vii) monitor longer-term epidemiologic trends and the evolution of the SARS-CoV-2;and virus;and viii) contribute to the understanding of the cocirculation of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, influenza and other respiratory viruses and pathogens.