Page 172 - MALAYSIA HEALTH SECTOR RESPONSE TO COVID-19 PANDEMIC: PERSPECTIVES FROM THE FIELD

8.3 Generating Knowledge from Research

The COVID-19 pandemic had astounded the world since its emergence in
December 2019. Being a novel virus, the scientific communities have neither
scientific data nor previous experiences in handling such a novel virus
before. Nevertheless, the public health authorities and policymakers
require high-quality scientific evidence to guide them in making appropriate
decisions and taking congruous actions to curb the spread of COVID-19. In
Malaysia, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have taken the vanguard in
conducting numerous COVID-19-related researches. Stepping past the 12th
month post-discovery of COVID-19, the research activities conducted by the
six institutes under the NIH (Institute for Medical Research-IMR, Institute for
Clinical Research-ICR, Institute for Health Systems Research-IHSR, Institute
for Health Management-IHM, Institute for Health Behavioural Research-IHBR
and Institute for Public Health-IPH), in collaboration with MOH programmes,
hospitals, and public universities have made monumental progress in
contributing significant scientific findings related to COVID-19, which would
help policy-makers in making informed evidence-based decisions.

Exploring the behaviour of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus in different mammalian cell lines
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In an ongoing study identifying the most susceptible mammalian cell lines
for isolation and propagation of SARS-CoV-2, IMR researchers had
successfully propagated Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2
(SARS-CoV-2) in Vero E6 cell lines. The electron microscopy image had
identified the virus particle that was spherical with the appearance of
spikes protruding from their surfaces. The virus was observed to
concentrate mostly in intracellular organelles, especially in vesicles, with
sizes ranging from 50-100nm.

Exploring the clinical epidemiology pattern of COVID-19 infections in
Malaysia

In order to have a better understanding of the clinical epidemiology pattern
of COVID-19 infections in Malaysia, the clinical records of all RT-PCR
confirmed COVID-19 patients admitted to 18 designated hospitals in

Malaysia between 1st February and 30th April 2020 were reviewed in a study
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by ICR . The findings showed that early compulsory hospitalisation upon
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136 EVIDENCE-BASED RESPONSES TO THE THIRD COVID-19 WAVE IN MALAYSIA