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PLoS One . Implementation of a COVID-19 surveillance programme for healthcare workers in a teaching hospital in an upper-middle-income country

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  • PLoS One . Implementation of a COVID-19 surveillance programme for healthcare workers in a teaching hospital in an upper-middle-income country


    PLoS One


    . 2021 Apr 14;16(4):e0249394.
    doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0249394. eCollection 2021.
    Implementation of a COVID-19 surveillance programme for healthcare workers in a teaching hospital in an upper-middle-income country


    Kim Sui Wan 1 2 , Peter Seah Keng Tok 1 2 , Kishwen Kanna Yoga Ratnam 1 2 , Nuraini Aziz 1 2 , Marzuki Isahak 1 , Rafdzah Ahmad Zaki 1 , Nik Daliana Nik Farid 1 , Noran Naqiah Hairi 1 , Sanjay Rampal 1 , Chiu-Wan Ng 1 , Mohd Fauzy Samsudin 1 2 , Vinura Venugopal 1 2 , Mohammad Asyraf 1 2 , Narisa Hatun Damanhuri 1 2 , Sanpagavalli Doraimuthu 1 2 , Catherine Thamarai Arumugam 1 2 , Thaneswaran Marthammuthu 1 2 , Fathhullah Azmie Nawawi 1 2 , Faiz Baharudin 1 3 , Diane Woei Quan Chong 1 2 , Vivek Jason Jayaraj 1 2 , Venna Magarita 3 , Sasheela Ponnampalavanar 3 4 , Nazirah Hasnan 3 5 , Adeeba Kamarulzaman 3 4 , Mas Ayu Said 1



    Affiliations

    Abstract

    Introduction: The reporting of Coronavirus Disease 19 (COVID-19) mortality among healthcare workers highlights their vulnerability in managing the COVID-19 pandemic. Some low- and middle-income countries have highlighted the challenges with COVID-19 testing, such as inadequate capacity, untrained laboratory personnel, and inadequate funding. This article describes the components and implementation of a healthcare worker surveillance programme in a designated COVID-19 teaching hospital in Malaysia. In addition, the distribution and characteristics of healthcare workers placed under surveillance are described.
    Material and methods: A COVID-19 healthcare worker surveillance programme was implemented in University Malaya Medical Centre. The programme involved four teams: contact tracing, risk assessment, surveillance and outbreak investigation. Daily symptom surveillance was conducted over fourteen days for healthcare workers who were assessed to have low-, moderate- and high-risk of contracting COVID-19. A cross-sectional analysis was conducted for data collected over 24 weeks, from the 6th of March 2020 to the 20th of August 2020.
    Results: A total of 1,174 healthcare workers were placed under surveillance. The majority were females (71.6%), aged between 25 and 34 years old (64.7%), were nursing staff (46.9%) and had no comorbidities (88.8%). A total of 70.9% were categorised as low-risk, 25.7% were moderate-risk, and 3.4% were at high risk of contracting COVID-19. One-third (35.2%) were symptomatic, with the sore throat (23.6%), cough (19.8%) and fever (5.0%) being the most commonly reported symptoms. A total of 17 healthcare workers tested positive for COVID-19, with a prevalence of 0.3% among all the healthcare workers. Risk category and presence of symptoms were associated with a positive COVID-19 test (p<0.001). Fever (p<0.001), cough (p = 0.003), shortness of breath (p = 0.015) and sore throat (p = 0.002) were associated with case positivity.
    Conclusion: COVID-19 symptom surveillance and risk-based assessment have merits to be included in a healthcare worker surveillance programme to safeguard the health of the workforce.


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