By: Megat Harris Iskandar
Many people think they need to do a Covid-19 screening test when there are only symptoms or signs, but did you know, most of those who have been confirmed positive before do not show any signs of Covid-19?
Because
of that, we are reminded to adhere to preventive measures as this infection
does not show any signs at an early stage.
5 stages of Covid-19 infection
Recently,
the Ministry of Health Malaysia (MOH) released 1 information on 5 levels of
infection or signs of Covid-19 that occur in humans, the following are the
stages of the infection.
Stage
1: Assymptomatic
At
stage 1, those infected do not show any symptoms or signs of Covid-19. They do
not have a cough, cold or fever and just look normal like everyone else.
Stage
2: Symptomatic
without pneumonia
At
this stage, those infected will show symptoms or signs of Covid-19 such as
fever, cough and flu. But they have no problems related to pneumonia.
Stage
3: Symptomatic
with pneumonia
At
stage 3, those infected still show symptoms of Covid-19. But it is compounded
by the emergence of problems related to pneumonia.
Stage
4: Symptomatic,
has pneumonia and needs oxygen assistance
Patients
who are in stage 4 still have symptoms of Covid-19 as well as pneumonia as in
stage 3. However, at this stage, the patient needs oxygen assistance to
continue breathing.
Level
5: Critically ill
with multiorgan involvement
At
this stage, the patient is already at a critical stage of infection. This is
because many other organs in the body have already begun to be affected and are
in critical condition due to Covid-19 virus infection.
Percentage of Covid-19 patients in Malaysia by level of infection
According to a report by the MOH,
as many as 88% of those who have been infected are in Stage 1 and Stage 2. This
clearly shows that most of these infected patients either do not show any signs
of Covid-19 or only show mild symptoms such as fever and cough.
7% percent of the total current
patients are at Level 3 and Level 4. While 5% of the remaining total patients
are at Level 5.
Why are so many patients at Levels 1 and 2?
Most patients who are in Stages 1
and 2 are unaware that they have been infected with the Covid-19 virus. Despite
experiencing COVID-19 symptoms such as cough and fever, they may think it is
just a normal cough and fever.
Therefore, they are more likely to
ignore it and only perform screening when they realize there is close contact
with a Covid-19-positive individual.
Not to mention if those who do not
have any of these symptoms move here and there and hang out with other
individuals in public places,
The transmission of Covid-19 outbreaks becomes
easier and faster to spread to others, they are unaware that they have actually
been infected and subsequently spread the virus to others.
