The COVID pandemic caused disruptions in people’s lives and presented an unprecedented challenge on health care systems. Isolating elderly patients in hospitals caused loss of functional independence, worsened cognition and caused complications related to social isolation. At the height of the pandemic, the authors’ hospital cohorted COVID positive patients in an acute general ward to conserve resources and maximise quality of care, especially for the elderly. It is now recognized that COVID-19 has impact on nutritional status, leading to weight loss, malnutrition and sarcopenia [1, 2]. Undernutrition is prevalent in up to 42.1% of COVID-19 infection [3]. Convenience sampling was used and 56 patients of all 329 patients admitted during this period (43 patients >65 and 13 patients <65years of age) were included as the sample. The aim of this study was to look into the percentage of the local population affected nutritionally by COVID-19. Mini MNA (Mini Nutritional Assessment) was the screening tool used. The data showed elderly >65 infected with COVID, 37.2% are at risk; 39.5% were undernourished (23% were well-nourished) at admission. Patients with COVID <65, 69.2% were at risk and 7.7% were undernourished at admission. Additionally, 55.6% of these patients with undernutrition had low BMI and 50% of those patients were known to have dementia. Moreover, the length of inpatient stay of the aforementioned patients (especially elderly patients) with poor nutritional status was noted to be longer (66.7% of elderly and 20% of those <65 had to stay inpatient for ≥10days). This data has public health implication, where the society should be aware that undernutrition is prevalent and should do more to improve the nutritional status of its population, especially the elderly.