Kejal Hasmuk, Hakimah Sallehuddin, Maw Pin Tan
Key findings:
- Malaysia has 19 government-run, 350 registered and over 1000 unregistered residential aged-care facilities
- Home-based long-term care is currently unregulated in Malaysia
- Welfare Department and Ministry of Health officials work closely with academics, care home representatives and civil society representatives to reach out to care homes
- Malaysia has adopted a mass-testing strategy for all care homes, registered and unregistered, a rate of positive tests for 8% of care homes and of 0.3% staff/residents was reported after 180 of 1300 homes were screened
- An “older persons” cluster has been reported which involved at least one care home and 2 deaths (in total there have been 113 COVID-19 deaths in Malaysia)
- Care homes lack basic PPE and have difficulty observing physical distancing within their confined spaces.
- No visitors are allowed and care homes are discouraged from admitting any new residents
- Care home residents with suspected COVID-19 will be admitted to COVID hospitals, with all other residents admitted for isolation and testing if necessary.