Characteristics of COVID-19 epidemic and control measures to curb transmission in Malaysia.

ABSTRACT: The first wave of COVID-19 epidemic began in late January in Malaysia and ended with a very small final size. The second wave of infections broke out in late February and grew rapidly in the first 3 weeks. Authorities in the country responded quickly with a series of control strategies collectively known as the Movement Control Order (MCO) with different levels of intensity matching the progression of the epidemic. We examined the characteristics of the second wave and discussed the key control strategies implemented in the country. In the second wave, the epidemic doubled in size every 3.8 days (95% confidence interval [CI]: 3.3, 4.5) in the first month and decayed slowly after that with a halving time of approximately 3 weeks. The time-varying reproduction number R_t peaked at

SUBMITTER: Ng CFS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7567666 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature