Quarantine for me, but not for thee? – Zaidi Azmi

LIKE most people returning from Sabah, I was told to self-isolate after being screened and tested for Covid-19 at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA). Today is my fourth day of home quarantine.

The word “most” was used because apparently, not every Sabah returnee has done this, despite the Health Ministry’s clear-cut September 26 directive on the matter.

The most notable – so far – of those who have not heeded the order is International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali, who, on September 27, was still in Sabah.

September 27 was when the ministry’s directive on compulsory virus screening and testing at the airport, and home quarantine for Sabah returnees was supposed to take effect. It was also the day after the Sabah election.

While the exact timing of Azmin’s return to the peninsula is uncertain, what is known is that he attended a meeting with Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz at the latter’s office in Putrajaya on September 29.

This was confirmed by Tengku Zafrul himself via Facebook, and in the four photos he shared in his post, neither he nor Azmin is wearing a mask.

Sources close to the finance minister, however, assured that Azmin’s Covid-19 test result came back negative, thus the reason the meeting was given the green light.

The speed at which Azmin obtained his test result is peculiar. I was told by the frontliners at KLIA that it will take at least five days to get mine, and I will be allowed to end my two-week quarantine early only if my result returned negative.

According to Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, however, one may be exempted from the mandatory airport screening and testing by pre-emptively undergoing a test at a hospital prior to one’s flight.

“The result has to be fewer than three days old (from the flight date),” said Dr Noor Hisham via WhatsApp, adding that those who do this are still advised to “self-regulate” and “self-quarantine” for 14 days.

The quarantine length is as such because the coronavirus has an incubation period of up to two weeks, and in this time, an infected individual could unknowingly spread the disease to others.

Harvard Medical School pointed this out in a September 24 update of its March health advisory.

“We know that a person with Covid-19 may be contagious between 48 and 72 hours before starting to experience symptoms. Emerging research suggests that people may actually be most likely to spread the virus to others during the 48 hours before they start to experience symptoms.

“If true, this strengthens the case for face masks, physical distancing and contact tracing, all of which can help reduce the risk that someone who is infected, but not yet experiencing symptoms, may unknowingly infect others.”

It is no wonder why Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Hasni Mohammad decided to undergo a 14-day quarantine at his official residence despite testing negative for Covid-19 twice – on September 22 and 27 – since his return from Sabah.

So, if Hasni is doing it, why can’t Azmin?

Surely the minister has yet to forget the controversy born of Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali’s quarantine-skipping in August, right? – The Vibes, October 2, 2020