Epidemiology and Clinical Presentation of COVID-19 Infection in Kinta District, Malaysia: One year on

Introduction: TheCOVID-19 infection in Malaysia has become a public health emergency that has overwhelmed the healthcare system. As of 30th July 2021, Malaysia has recorded 1,095,486 COVID-19 cases,183,706 active cases and 8,859 deaths (1). The trend of transmission is essential for public health intervention to combat this pandemic. The aim of the study is to determine the epidemiology of COVID-19 transmission in Kinta and identify symptomatic COVID-19 profiles for early diagnosis. Method: Retrospective review of all COVID-19 confirmed cases registered by the Kinta Health District between March 2020 to March 2021. Kinta district comprises of 8 smaller sub-districts and is the most populated district in the state of Perak. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and Pearson's chi-squared tests to compare the sociodemographic and medical characteristics in the 2nd and 3rd wave of the COVID-19 infection. The second wave of the COVID-19 epidemic in Malaysia began on 27th February 2020 to 19th September 2020 (2). The third wave of the epidemic continued from 20th September 2021 till the present day (3). Ethical approval was obtained from the Medical Research and Ethics Committee of the Ministry of Health Malaysia.  Results: 3051 confirmed cases were registered between March 2020 to March 2021. The most common infected individuals were between the ages of 18-40 years old, male, Malay, and history of close contact with confirmed cases. The medical characteristics that were statistically significant between the 2nd and 3rd waves were cigarette smoking, cough, coryza, shortness of breath, anosmia, ageusia and headache. Discussion: The majority of the confirmed COVID-19 cases were asymptomatic indicates that the public health approach of tracing, testing isolating and supporting close contacts is effective in containing the transmission of the infection. It highlights the importance of identifying the transmission pattern in the community to manage the outbreak effectively. There is a need to provide continuous health promotion and education is central to break the chain of infection.