KUALA LUMPUR – A nationwide ban on interstate travel would have had to be implemented to enforce a mandatory 14-day quarantine for Sabah returnees after the September state election, said Datuk Seri Redzuan Md Yusof.
In a written reply to the Dewan Rakyat dated November 11, the minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of special functions said it would have been impractical and impossible for the Health Ministry to put in place a blanket ban.
“Based on the advice of the Health Ministry, the government determined that only individuals returning from overseas must undergo the 14-day mandatory quarantine at quarantine centres.
“The Sabah returnees were travelling in the country. The Health Ministry had taken steps to ensure that the Sabah returnees underwent Covid-19 screening and observed self-quarantine at home until they received negative test results.
“The government didn’t make it mandatory for them to go through the 14-day quarantine at quarantine centres.
“If we implement that policy (travel ban), it must be a blanket policy for all interstate travel,” he said in his reply to Fahmi Fadzil (PH-Lembah Pantai).
Redzuan cited the Sivagangga cluster in Kedah, which turned the northern state into a red zone.
If Putrajaya had implemented the mandatory 14-day quarantine at designated centres, everyone travelling from Kedah would be subjected to it.
Redzuan described such an order as unfeasible and beyond the capabilities of Malaysia’s medical services.
The Covid-19 infection rate spiked throughout the country after the September 26 Sabah vote.
Daily cases have topped 1,000, with Sabah being the nation’s worst-hit state. – The Vibes, November 15, 2020
