COVID-19 – What You Need to Know

Malaysia begins to steadily move towards a ‘recovery phase’, making adjustments to daily lives and modes of operations. The threat of Covid-19 remains regardless. On 6 May 2020, AMCHAM held a webinar titled COVID-19 – What You Need to Know presented by Dr. Helmy Mydin, Pantai Hospital’s Consultant Respiratory Physician, and Dr. Rohini Kamalanathan, Senior Director Medical APAC, Western Digital.

Members who joined got to learn in-depth about the epidemic,  the current state of the virus, COVID-19 testing procedures, which group is more vulnerable, the best approaches to take, and what can be done now that the Movement Control Order has become more flexible. All foreign workers in Malaysia which include expatriates will now have to go for Covid-19 testing.

Questions from the attendees include the life span of the virus, the virus transferring from different surfaces, the effect of temperature on the virus, the strength of the virus in a cold country as opposed to a hot country, and more. This becomes crucial since many different and contradictory answers can be found on the net. Dr. Helmy cleared this up and also advised attendees on what they can implement at their offices whether it be using specific tools/devices or social distancing.

Both speakers provided a realistic idea of where we are heading and whether the ‘new normal’ will be the permanent normal or if things can go back to the way they were prior to Covid-19. This was truly an interactive session and we would like to thank Dr. Helmy and Dr. Rohini for sharing their insights and expert advice.