Abstract
As of September 2021, COVID-19 has led to 2.25 million cases and 26,335 deaths in Malaysia. Increased transmission has led to overwhelmed public health capacity. We describe the development and utilisation of a surveillance adjunct in the Petaling District Health office (DHO) in response to constraints in public health capacity. Three major responses were introduced - 1) an exercise to consolidate capacity in January 2021, 2) the introduction of digital tools in February 2021, and 3) the expansion of functionalities of the digital tool for community-based surveillance in March 2021. Surveillance data between 1 September 2020 and 30 September 2021 was uitilised to evaluate the evolution and impact of these interventions. Epidemiologic curves were superimposed with policies and human resource capacity. Additionally, durations of public health system responses were calculated. Bimodal transmission is observed in Petaling, with a peak in November 2020 and a second in August 2021. Large increases in transmission of COVID-19 ranging from 246% to 1300% were observed between September 2020 and May 2021. Human resources increase of between 146% to 257% were observed between October 2020 and May 2021, respectively. Between December 2020 and February 2021, the duration between the onset of symptoms and registration, the duration between sampling and registration, and the duration between sample reporting and registration also increased. Despite sustained transmission, recovery of the durations close to baseline was observed in March 2021. The introduction of capacity consolidation, internet-based digital tool as an adjunct for surveillance supported an overburdened public health system in ensuring that disease control measures remained timely. Innovative and adaptive approaches like the approach reported here are critical in increasing organisational resilience against external shocks such as COVID-19.
Links
- https://apcph.cphm.my/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/APCPH2022-P-12.pdf
- https://apcph.cphm.my/wp-content/uploads/wpforms/1176-1e04940bb5d885bf8711ed1909[...]
BibTeX (Download)
@proceedings{APCPH2022-P-12,
title = {Adaptive response of COVID-19 surveillance utilising capacity consolidation and an internet-based solution in Petaling District, Malaysia},
author = {Vivek Jason Jayaraj and Patrick Peng and Nur Nabila Abd Rahim and Mohd Ali Imran and Nur Emmy Fizreena and Salina Md Taib and Zazarida Zakiman and Sudeash Rajakrishnan and Rubaan Raj Silverdurai and Mohd Azizan Asroh and Mohd Paid Bin Yusof and Faridah Amin and Lee Soo Cheng},
url = {https://apcph.cphm.my/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/APCPH2022-P-12.pdf
https://apcph.cphm.my/wp-content/uploads/wpforms/1176-1e04940bb5d885bf8711ed19095a89ed/Adaptive-Response-Of-COVID-19-Surveillance-Utilising-Capacity-Co-a131a3322132054b36ea27dfc4642d9c.pdf},
year = {2022},
date = {2022-08-02},
urldate = {2022-08-02},
issue = {7},
abstract = {As of September 2021, COVID-19 has led to 2.25 million cases and 26,335 deaths in Malaysia. Increased transmission has led to overwhelmed public health capacity. We describe the development and utilisation of a surveillance adjunct in the Petaling District Health office (DHO) in response to constraints in public health capacity. Three major responses were introduced - 1) an exercise to consolidate capacity in January 2021, 2) the introduction of digital tools in February 2021, and 3) the expansion of functionalities of the digital tool for community-based surveillance in March 2021. Surveillance data between 1 September 2020 and 30 September 2021 was uitilised to evaluate the evolution and impact of these interventions. Epidemiologic curves were superimposed with policies and human resource capacity. Additionally, durations of public health system responses were calculated. Bimodal transmission is observed in Petaling, with a peak in November 2020 and a second in August 2021. Large increases in transmission of COVID-19 ranging from 246% to 1300% were observed between September 2020 and May 2021. Human resources increase of between 146% to 257% were observed between October 2020 and May 2021, respectively. Between December 2020 and February 2021, the duration between the onset of symptoms and registration, the duration between sampling and registration, and the duration between sample reporting and registration also increased. Despite sustained transmission, recovery of the durations close to baseline was observed in March 2021. The introduction of capacity consolidation, internet-based digital tool as an adjunct for surveillance supported an overburdened public health system in ensuring that disease control measures remained timely. Innovative and adaptive approaches like the approach reported here are critical in increasing organisational resilience against external shocks such as COVID-19.},
howpublished = {published online at https://apcph.cphm.my},
note = {Type: POSTER PRESENTATION; Organisation: Petaling District Health Office, Selangor, Malaysia; Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University Malaya; Universiti Putra Malaysia},
keywords = {Capacity consolidation, Covid-19, Digital tool, Internet-based solution, surveillance},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {proceedings}
}