Abstract
Introduction: COVID-19, named after a new coronavirus, 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV, or severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has caused a pandemic issues. Malaysia announced its first COVID-19 case on 25th January 2020 involving Chinese tourists who had entered Malaysia via Johor Bahru. The third wave of COVID-19 in Malaysia started on 20th September 2020 showed a rapidly increased number of COVID-19 cases nationwide. Multiple enhanced movement control orders (EMCO) had been implemented in high-risk areas to control the spread of COVID-19. Aim: To highlight the process handling during the Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO) involving interagency collaboration. Methods: Johor Bahru issued a first EMCO following a cluster that involved foreign workers in a multi-companies hostel. The EMCO was issued to lockdown the hostel and area, undertake screening, treat positive cases by initiating in-house COVID-19 Low-Risk Quarantine and Treatment Centres, and quarantine their close contacts. Interagency responsibilities were explained in steps of stakeholder meeting and situational analysis, operational definitions, command and control, COVID-19 outbreak management, and post EMCO management. Results: Based on risk assessment, 2035 (65.3%) RT-PCR testings were conducted on a total population of 3116, and 682 (21.9%) confirmed COVID-19 cases were identified involving multiple nationalities. Of all positive cases, 481 (70.3%) were asymptomatic and majority of positive cases were male (97.2%). The positivity rate of RT-PCR showed an increasing trend to 86.36% then started to decline during the second phase of EMCO (from 23.53% then 0.00%). Throughout this EMCO, there was no fatality noted. The risk factors contributing to the outbreak were contacts from multiple factories then spreading inside dormitories and the whole hostel. Challenges while carrying out multiple tasks and responsibilities throughout implementing EMCO were successfully handled with good collaboration from interagency, led by District Disaster Management Committee. Conclusion: To make sure the goals of EMCO can be met, many factors should be taken into account when executing the order. The residents ' compliance and interagency cooperation were crucial to the EMCO's success. EMCO with a targeted approach should be considered in future pandemics.
Links
- https://apcph.cphm.my/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/APCPH2022-P-65.pdf
- https://apcph.cphm.my/wp-content/uploads/wpforms/1176-1e04940bb5d885bf8711ed1909[...]
BibTeX (Download)
@proceedings{APCPH2022-P-65,
title = {Johor Bahru First Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO): Effective method with interagency integrated operation in combating pandemic COVID-19},
author = {Mohd Anwar Shahrir Ahmad and Khairul Nadzry Mohamed and Maswan Johan and Norli Rosli and Haidar Rizal Toha},
url = {https://apcph.cphm.my/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/APCPH2022-P-65.pdf
https://apcph.cphm.my/wp-content/uploads/wpforms/1176-1e04940bb5d885bf8711ed19095a89ed/APCPH2022-P-65-Poster-617750bb191fac01f450cf92632102cd.pdf},
year = {2022},
date = {2022-08-02},
urldate = {2022-08-02},
issue = {7},
abstract = {Introduction: COVID-19, named after a new coronavirus, 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV, or severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has caused a pandemic issues. Malaysia announced its first COVID-19 case on 25th January 2020 involving Chinese tourists who had entered Malaysia via Johor Bahru. The third wave of COVID-19 in Malaysia started on 20th September 2020 showed a rapidly increased number of COVID-19 cases nationwide. Multiple enhanced movement control orders (EMCO) had been implemented in high-risk areas to control the spread of COVID-19. Aim: To highlight the process handling during the Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO) involving interagency collaboration. Methods: Johor Bahru issued a first EMCO following a cluster that involved foreign workers in a multi-companies hostel. The EMCO was issued to lockdown the hostel and area, undertake screening, treat positive cases by initiating in-house COVID-19 Low-Risk Quarantine and Treatment Centres, and quarantine their close contacts. Interagency responsibilities were explained in steps of stakeholder meeting and situational analysis, operational definitions, command and control, COVID-19 outbreak management, and post EMCO management. Results: Based on risk assessment, 2035 (65.3%) RT-PCR testings were conducted on a total population of 3116, and 682 (21.9%) confirmed COVID-19 cases were identified involving multiple nationalities. Of all positive cases, 481 (70.3%) were asymptomatic and majority of positive cases were male (97.2%). The positivity rate of RT-PCR showed an increasing trend to 86.36% then started to decline during the second phase of EMCO (from 23.53% then 0.00%). Throughout this EMCO, there was no fatality noted. The risk factors contributing to the outbreak were contacts from multiple factories then spreading inside dormitories and the whole hostel. Challenges while carrying out multiple tasks and responsibilities throughout implementing EMCO were successfully handled with good collaboration from interagency, led by District Disaster Management Committee. Conclusion: To make sure the goals of EMCO can be met, many factors should be taken into account when executing the order. The residents ' compliance and interagency cooperation were crucial to the EMCO's success. EMCO with a targeted approach should be considered in future pandemics.},
howpublished = {published online at https://apcph.cphm.my},
note = {Type: POSTER PRESENTATION; Organisation: Johor Bahru District Health Office, Johor, Malaysia},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {proceedings}
}