Informing the public on the areas with positive cases is sufficient for the public to stay vigilant.

In an interview with the Star newspaper on the COVID-19 data, Associate Professor Dr Rafdzah Ahmad Zaki believes that informing the public on the areas with positive cases without revealing detailed information about the infected person would be sufficient in helping others to stay vigilant.

The detailed information about the movement of an infected person is crucial for the tracing process and controlling the spread of the virus. The detailed information is only useful for the conduct investigation, contact tracing and epidemiological studies.

Publicising personal information to the public will put the patient at risk of social stigma and could also discourage the exposed or infected people from coming forward to get tested. She further pointed out that making information public about a specific shop or location that had been visited by a positive case a few days earlier would not change the preventive measures taken by the public.

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