PUTRAJAYA – Travellers who have received the Covid-19 vaccine are not exempt from complying with prescribed infection prevention measures, including undergoing mandatory quarantine, says Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
He said the Health Ministry (MoH) had, on March 12, decided that risk assessments should be carried out on travellers who have received complete Covid-19 immunisation, while the World Health Organisation (WHO) has also not recommended that the vaccination be used as an immunity passport for travel purposes.
He said although countries with access to Covid-19 vaccines have begun inoculating their citizens since the end of last year, more information is still required to determine their effectiveness.
“For example, in terms of how much it reduces the transmission of infection and the period of immunity for a person who has received the Covid-19 vaccine (it is still inconclusive),” he said in a statement today.
Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham said travellers could apply for an exemption to undergo quarantine at quarantine stations based on several risk assessment criteria.
The criteria include evidence of having received the Covid-19 vaccine; travellers from low-risk countries; having a suitable place of residence here to undergo the quarantine, including no risk of exposure to other members of the house; and, having a negative Covid-19 test result.
He said travellers who met the criteria could be given the flexibility to undergo mandatory quarantine at the residence, subject to quarantine conditions set by the government.
According to him, 61,931 individuals had returned to Malaysia between January 1 and March 27 this year, with 61,462 people are undergoing mandatory quarantine at quarantine stations – 409 at their place of residence, 31 at hospitals and 29 are short-term business travellers (STBT).
“During the period, 2,743 applications were received for undergoing quarantine at home and getting an exemption from undergoing quarantine at quarantine stations, with 409 applications approved,” he said.
The approved applications include 138 individuals due to health problems, 109 people who are caregivers to travellers with health problems, 14 people with a history of being Covid-19 positive, and 14 people under the periodic commuting arrangement/Reciprocal Green Lane.
In the meantime, he said 285 individuals from the total had been given time off to visit family members who were ill and to attend the funeral of close relatives.
“For those who apply to visit a sick family member or attend the funeral of a deceased family member, the traveller (person under surveillance) will be given time off and will have to return to the quarantine station to complete the mandatory quarantine period,” he said.
He said all the PUS are required to comply with strict SOPs by the MoH during their visit, and vehicles and escorts for the visits are managed at the quarantine station by the National Disaster Management Agency through the Civil Defence Force.
Dr Noor Hisham said this is because PUS travellers undergoing quarantine are at risk of transmitting the infection to people around them.
Based on monitoring by the National Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre, there are 27 Covid-19 clusters involving index cases who arrived from abroad, with 2,019 positive cases reported between March 4, 2020 and March 26, 2021.
“The MoH will continue to monitor the development of Covid-19 infections within and outside the country, whereby screening for the disease among travellers from abroad will be continued at all Malaysian international gateways,” he said.
The government had briefly allowed Malaysian citizens to self-quarantine at home in June last year, but due to incidents of some who ignored the quarantine order, it was once again made mandatory for them to undergo quarantine at quarantine stations from July 24 at their own cost.
The rule is still in force to date. – Bernama, March 30, 2021
