News & Reviews:   Covid-19

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration or FDA have provided emergency use authorization for Abbott’s 5 minute COVID-19 test kit. Running on their ID NOW platform, this small box the size of a toaster can also reveal negative results in 13 minutes and can be used outside of the lab or hospital.

Although our country is now in an extended movement control order (MCO), the number of people found infected with COVID-19 continues to rise. In an effort to do its part to help, vivo Malaysia has partnered up with Mercy Malaysia to donate a large number of masks. The company has said that these masks will be provided to those in need of them.

The rising number of people infected by COVID-19 in Malaysia means that medical staff in our country have to keep working hard in the next few weeks. To support all these front liners, Celcom has committed to providing additional communications support to medical staff in the different hospitals in Malaysia.

Two areas in Kluang are now on Enhanced movement control order(EMCO) until 9 April 2020 being the highest positive recorded cases of COVID-19. From the total of 83 cases recorded,  61 cases are from the two areas in Simpang Renggam, Kampung Dato’ Ibrahim Majid and Bandar Baharu Dato’ Ibrahim Majid.

In the UK, Covid-19 cases have been increasing. Today, the number of Covid-19 deaths in the UK has hit 463 and the cases have also risen to 9,529, making the country face a significant shortage of ventilators to support these patients. Not just in the UK, other corners of the world are facing the same challenge as well during this pandemic. Luckily, we have companies like Dyson joining the fight by manufacturing 15,000 ventilators after receiving a call 10 days ago from UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

During this pandemic, it is important for us to stay home and keep ourselves clean and hygienic at all times. However, if you fell sick and start showing symptons of Covid-19, you need to quarantine yourself and make a call to the helpline immediately. Getting tested for the virus is a process that doesn’t require too long time to get the result, but it looks like Huawei has a way to get the process done in just two minutes with the help of artificial intelligence (AI).

Sugarbook? Isn't that the online dating platform that had their billboard ads taken down by DBKL last year? Yes, that's the same company and they are back once again! Apparently, the company have been doing quite well despite the negative perception received from the public. In fact, during this Movement Control Order period, the company is experiencing a ton of online activities spiking up the traffic. And yes, Malaysians are the top customer.

Just a few days ago, the official Department of Statistics, Malaysia, posted a COVID-19 case survey on their Facebook page relating to the economy and individuals in Malaysia. Starting from 23 March, the survey will end on 31 March 2020. If you're interested, read on below on how you can contribute.

Local Authorities and grocery markets are now practicing social distancing and only allow a certain amount of shoppers to enter. This has caused others to queue at least 1 meter apart in long lines to wait for their turn. Yesterday, AEON Malaysia has started providing a personal shopper service to tackle that issue and help you shop with ease.

To help out those who are in need, our government has announced that Malaysians will be able to withdraw savings from our EPF accounts starting from 1 April 2020. If you still don’t know, the latest announcement from Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin just came today reminding us to stay home until 14 April 2020, as Covid-19 cases in the country are still increasing. The movement control order has definitely brought some major effects to people, especially for for financial aspect.