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COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia

The COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of
coronavirus caused by SARS-CoV-2. The virus was confirmed to have reached Malaysia in
January 2020, when it was detected among travellers from China arriving via Singapore on
25 January, following the outbreak of COVID-19 in Hubei, China.

On the 24th of January 2020, the National Public Health Lab (MKAK) received 8 samples
from close contacts to the positive case in Singapore. They were travellers from China. We
received the samples from Johor Bahru Public Health Laboratory. On 25th of January 2020, 3
out of the 8 samples turned out to be positive for SARS-CoV-2.

Reported cases remained relatively low and were largely confined to imported cases, until
localized clusters began to emerge in March; with the largest cluster was linked to a religious
gathering held in Sri Petaling, Kuala Lumpur in late February and early March, leading to a
massive spike in local cases and an exportation of cases to neighbouring countries.

This is a great challenge for our laboratory in terms of laboratory testing capacity. However,
we managed to upscale on the laboratory real time PCR testing capacity. Furthermore, lately
there are other methods of laboratory testing like Rapid Test Antigen (RTK Ag) and the
Rapid Test Antibody (RTK Ab) which we use for follow up on Day 13.