KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 14 — Malaysians who were previously infected with Covid-19 are urged to volunteer for Malaysia’s study on immunity in recovered patients, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has said.

Dr Noor Hisham announced that a group of researchers from the Health Ministry’s National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Institute for Medical Research is inviting Malaysians who had been infected with Covid-19 previously to join a medical research entitled "Longitudinal Study of Neutralizing Antibody Response among Covid-19 Patients in Malaysia”.

"This research is important to find out the levels of neutralising antibody (immunity) in the blood that can block the Covid-19 virus from infecting patients that had been infected previously,” he said in a Facebook post last night.

Attached to his Facebook post was a poster of the study where the Institute for Medical Research under the Health Ministry pleaded for the help of those who had tested positive for Covid-19.

"Your blood is precious for us to determine the immunity against Covid-19 and to improve the understanding of antibody response among Covid-19 patients at different time frame,” the poster read.

The study, which runs from August 2020 to July 2022, has been approved by the Health Ministry’s Medical Research and Ethics Committee.

Those who require further information are urged to contact:

1. Dr Rafiza Shaharudin (rafiza.s@moh.gov.my) or via phone number 03-33627753

2. Dr Masita Arip (masita.a@moh.gov.my ) or via phone number 03-33627735