Health Ministry Releases More Data In New Site Covidnow

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The Health Ministry has begun releasing more detailed Covid-19 data to the public in a new website called CovidNow.
This is in addition to information shared on the ministry's social media accounts and Github data repository.
Unlike the raw data published on Github, CovidNow presents figures in a more accessible format for public understanding.

Among the data published on the dual-lingual website (Bahasa Malaysia and English) is the present utilisation rate of healthcare facilities.

This includes the usage rates for ventilators, hospital beds, intensive care units (ICUs), and quarantine centres (PKRCs).
It also gives deeper insight into active Covid-19 cases - breaking them down by where they are being treated, along with whether they have recovered or died.
Also on the site are detailed visualisations on Covid-19 vaccinations, testing, daily case numbers, ventilated Covid-19 patients, and deaths.

Announcing the new initiative this evening, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said this was in line with his promise to be more forthcoming with data.
He hoped the data, made more transparent, would help with public understanding and encourage everyone to comply with the Covid rules.
“I hope that with the data and information shared in GitHub and CovidNow, the people will have better understanding and awareness of the Covid-19 situation in the country.
“Besides that, we hope this will encourage behavioural changes and better compliance to standard operating procedures (SOPs) as we enter a new phase of living with Covid-19,” he said in a press conference.
Pro bono, team effort
Malaysian web developer Henry Lim said he and a team of open data enthusiasts worked with the ministry to build CovidNow.
Via the @MYVaccineCount Twitter account, he promoted the new website and listed the people who were behind it.

“I built this website for the people of Malaysia voluntary [sic], I did not get paid from the government for doing this,” he said.

On CovidNow, the ministry acknowledged the four-person team behind the website - Henry, Calum Lim, Sheng Han Lim, and Roshan Maghhan.

“Many developers and data scientists reached out to us, volunteering their services and intelligence to help us fight this virus.
“It was via this spirit of collaboration with the open data community that CovidNow was born.
“A group of innovative developers worked with us at the ministry, 100 percent pro bono, to build a site that would help Malaysians monitor the epidemic,” it read.

New daily reporting format
During the press conference, Khairy also announced that his ministry will soon transition to a new way of reporting daily infections via CovidNow.
Starting sometime next week, daily infection numbers will be published on the website alongside key indicators like vaccination rates, bed capacity in public and private hospitals, vaccination status of Covid-19 deaths, and adverse event following infection (AEFI) cases.
Khairy said the ministry will update CovidNow with such information at 11.59pm every day.
At present, daily cases are presented in infographics and press statements together with information on clusters, deaths per state, and public healthcare utilisation rates.
New tracing, testing strategies
Khairy further announced that the ministry will rollout a new contact tracing technology and a new testing strategy in the near future.
“We will also introduce a new contact tracing technology at the end of this month, that will assist us in tracing close contacts.

“The other thing is... we will also be announcing the national testing strategy (as we) go forward (into) the mitigation phase and also for certain different sectors.
“For instance, just now in our discussion with the Education Ministry, part of the new public health measures for certain schools will be testing. Not just vaccinations but also testing,” he said.
The minister said his deputy Noor Azmi Ghazali has been put in charge of the vaccine rollout for school-going children. - Mkini

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