Objective: Aged-care facilities are high-risk settings for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreaks because residents have risk factors such as advanced age and multiple comorbidities. This report details a COVID-19 outbreak at an aged-care facility in Selangor, Malaysia during March–April 2020. Methods: Epidemiological and environmental data were gathered via telephone interviews and field investigations. Swab samples were taken from all residents and staff for laboratory investigation. Possible contributing factors to the outbreak were explored. Results: There were a total of 18 individuals at the institution: nine elderly residents and nine staff. The attack rate was 66.67% (6/9) among the elderly residents and 55.56% (5/9) among the staff. The most common symptoms reported were fever, cough, shortness of breath and diarrhoea. The fatality rate among COVID-19 cases was 18.18% (2/11). Both fatal cases occurred in people of advanced age (86 and 92 years old), who had comorbidities and had fever at presentation. The factors contributing to the outbreak included a delay in isolating symptomatic residents, the use of common facilities, caregivers providing support to more than one resident and a lack of natural ventilation. Discussion Prevention and control measures must be aggressively implemented in high-risk sites to significantly reduce the risk of morbidity and mortality during COVID-19 outbreaks. Specific guidelines should be developed detailing the management of outbreaks in institutions such as aged-care facilities.

Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted disease surveillance systems globally, leading to reduced notifications of other infectious diseases. This study aims to estimate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the infectious disease surveillance system in Klang district, Selangor state, Malaysia. Methods: Data on notifiable diseases from 2014 to 2022 were sourced from the Klang District Health Office. The 11 diseases with more than 100 notifications each were included in the study. For these 11 diseases, a negative binomial regression model was used to explore the effect of the pandemic on case notifications and registrations by year, and a quasi-Poisson regression model was used to explore the changes by week. Results: The results showed a reduction in the number of notifications and registrations for all 11 diseases combined during the pandemic compared with previous years. Changes between expected and observed notifications by week were heterogeneous across the diseases. Discussion: These findings suggest that restrictive public health and social measures in Klang district may have impacted the transmission of other infectious diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic. The differential impact of the pandemic on disease notifications and reporting highlights the large ancillary effects of restrictive public health and social measures and the importance of building resilience into infectious disease surveillance systems.