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PUTRAJAYA – Next week, Malaysia will see a new set of standard operating procedures for Covid-19 close contacts, with Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin hinting at zero isolation as currently practised by asymptomatic healthcare workers.
He said the new isolation measures follow the latest protocol used among healthcare workers, adding that the spike in daily Covid-19 cases has led many to be classified as close contacts.
Khairy said that this has in turn caused disruptions in services and economic sectors by those forced to isolate themselves after becoming close contacts.
“The health director-general (Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah) recently sent out a circular introducing a protocol that specified healthcare workers who are close contacts and are without symptoms do not need to be isolated and are instead required to test on specific days.
“We might use the same protocol, so we are trying to see if we can apply this to the public as well. We have also told the private healthcare industry to follow these new protocols,” he said, without revealing when he expects to roll out the measures.
He added that a MySejahtera helpdesk will be opened Saturday onwards at the Kuala Lumpur World Trade Centre, followed by another in Shah Alam’s Ideal Convention Centre on February 26.
In a press conference today, Khairy said the daily evening Covid-19 updates will be scrapped and replaced with announcements the next day at 10am.
He said this is done to make sure data is analysed and evaluated properly, especially by the public, to allay any misconceptions over the severity of Covid-19.
“The point is to stop looking at all the data separately and to evaluate them along with other metrics and data uploaded by the ministry to help give us a clearer picture of hospital admission rates, intensive care unit admission rates, categories of new patients, and such.
“Updates will no longer be coming from the director-general in the evenings.”
He also reiterated that employers allow their staff to accompany their children for Covid-19 vaccination appointments, and to work from home to decrease the risk of infection.
Meanwhile, he said there is no concrete plan as of yet when asked on the possibility of introducing a fourth dose in the vaccination programme.
“In Mersing, only a total of 35% of adults have taken the booster dose, and in Pontian, it is at 39%, so Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan has to work harder,” he said, referring to the Pontian MP.
As for Johor, Khairy said a total of 63.2% of adults in the southern state have received their booster doses, adding that efforts are being put in place to increase the booster rate before the upcoming state election.
He also revealed that Mersing and Pontian have the lowest booster uptake rate among Johor districts when asked about the SOPs for the state election.
Khairy reiterated that the Election Commission will be the one announcing the SOPs, but the Health Ministry is hoping to boost jab rates in districts with low uptake. – The Vibes, February 17, 2022
