26/05/2020 10:05 PM
KUALA LUMPUR, May 26 -- National hammer thrower Jackie Wong can heave a huge sigh of relief now that he is expected to be discharged from the Sibu Hospital, Sarawak soon.
The 28-year-old national champion was admitted to the hospital after being tested positive for COVID-19 on March 16. However, after more than 70 days of treatment, the national record holder has had to remain warded when several tests returned positive results.
Nevertheless, Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah today said that based on the latest report from the World Health Organisation (WHO), a patient could be discharged after receiving more than 14 days of treatment.
“The important thing now is that, according to the WHO, maybe the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test on the 13th day will detect the virus because of a fragment of the virus’ RNA (Ribonucleic acid).
“Thus, when a test is conducted, the test is still positive. But the question is, can they still infect (others)? According to WHO’s report, the level of infectivity is zero if the patients have exceeded the 14-day period.
“With this latest information, even though the PCR is positive, we can discharge the patient. This is the latest action or information that we have received and (we) will amend the protocol in managing COVID-19 positive patients,” he said at the daily press conference on COVID-19 in Putrajaya today.
Jackie holds the national record for hammer throw with a distance of 68.22 metres, which he set at the Malaysian Athletics Federation Championships in August.
He also won three consecutive bronze medals in the SEA Games from 2011 until 2015, before clinching the gold in the 2017 edition in Malaysia.
However, at the Philippines SEA Games last year, he had to be contented with just a silver.
At the Asian level, Jackie finished seventh in the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia with a throw of 65.92m and eighth in the 2017 and 2019 Asian Athletics Championships.
-- BERNAMA
