.jpg "Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah speaks during his daily press conference on Covid-19 in Putrajaya February 9, 2020. — Picture by Hari Anggara")
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KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 9 — Ministers may be required to be quarantined for longer than three days after their return from abroad, Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah clarified today after uproar over its latest Covid-19 restrictions gave the impression of special treatment for the government elite.
The Health director-general said Cabinet members are still bound by the Ministry of Health’s (MoH) Covid-19 regulations, in response to yesterday’s announcement that shortened the 10-day quarantine period to just three days for ministers returning from official duties overseas.
In his press briefing today, Dr Noor Hisham explained that public health officials will deliberate on the risk factor to the public when any minister asks for a shortened quarantine period under the newly amended Section 29 of Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 (Act 342).
“If we read Section 29, ‘any Cabinet member who returns from any overseas official visit shall undergo observation for three days or undergo surveillance until be discharged without danger to the public.’
“So, the ‘or’ in the section could refer to seven days, 10 days, 14 days or even extended to 21 days. So, if we look at Section 29, they have to abide by the [travel] bubbles and they have to apply to the Cabinet and if the Cabinet approves then we (MoH) will have to see their schedule, SOP and the official duties [involved],” he explained this evening.
The controversial amendment gazetted under Section 15 of Act 342 takes effect from today.
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