Dr Noor Hisham said the Health Ministry only approved about 15 per cent, or 409 applications out of the 2,743 it received from Malaysians this year looking to be allowed to undergo mandatory quarantine at their home upon arrival in Kuala Lumpur. – Bernama file photo
KUALA LUMPUR (March 30): The Health Ministry only approved about 15 per cent, or 409 applications out of the 2,743 it received from Malaysians this year looking to be allowed to undergo mandatory quarantine at their home upon arrival here, Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah revealed today.
The Health director-general said these 409 individuals represent less than one per cent, or 0.7 per cent, of all Malaysians who travelled home from abroad this year, which as of March 27 stood at 61,931 individuals.
“A total of 61,462 people was made to undergo quarantine at designated quarantine stations, 409 allowed to quarantine at home, and 31 who were quarantined in hospital (for continuous treatment),” he said in a statement here.
Out of the 409 applicants allowed to isolate at home, Dr Noor Hisham said 138 of them were permitted as they were suffering from health complications, with 109 more given leeway for being caretakers of those within the first category.
He said 14 people were allowed to be isolated at home after having a history of testing positive for Covid-19, another 14 given leeway for being under the Periodic Commuting Arrangement/ Reciprocal Green Lane travel bubble between Malaysia and Singapore, and 14 more who were allowed to stay at home to make funeral arrangements for a family member.
About 5 per cent or 23 individuals who were given permission were children under the age of 16 accompanied by the guardians, five who were classified as senior citizens, and 92 others who were approved after passing risk assessment checks by the ministry.
Dr Noor Hisham then explained the criteria employed when scrutinising the risk levels of applicants.
“The criteria of what is factored in during a risk assessment include; the country the traveller has visited and is travelling from, their general health status, age, and conduciveness of their homes to undergo the quarantine procedure.
“This includes Short Term Business Travellers (STBT) who are also required to fulfil the specific conditions and are required to comply with tight standard operating procedures,” Dr Noor Hisham wrote in a statement today.
He said 285 people were also allowed ‘time-off’ their quarantine to visit ailing family members or attend a relative’s funeral, a process which he said requires them to be escorted and constantly monitored by officials from the National Disaster Management Agency, and to return to their quarantine centres right after.
However, non-locals are still subject to mandatory isolation strictly only at designated quarantine stations.
Dr Noor Hisham made these comments in response to the recent uproar towards preferential treatment allegedly being practised by the government over quarantine regulations.
This after Deputy Federal Territories Minister Edmund Santhara was allowed to undergo home quarantine upon returning from an extended holiday with his family in New Zealand, while Singapore Airlines pilot S. Mani Vannan, who had sought to be placed in home quarantine to care for his cancer-stricken mother, was denied the leeway.
Mani accused Dr Noor Hisham of practising double standards, with the DG later explaining that Santhara was allowed home isolation after returning from a low-risk country and that his home was found to be suitable for quarantine.
On the topic of fully inoculated Malaysians returning home from abroad, Dr Noor Hisham said considering how the World Health Organization has yet to endorse one’s vaccination status as an automatic immunity passport, these travellers would still be required to isolate upon arrival here.
As such, Dr Noor Hisham said inoculated Malaysians returning home will still need to apply for permission if they wish to undergo home quarantine, and that every traveller will be subjected to the Ministry’s risk assessment exercises.
‘The criteria that will be used in this risk assessment will require (travellers) to show proof of them having received full doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, that they are arriving from a low-risk country, have prepared an appropriate place to undergo the quarantine without risking infection to others in the same household, and tested negative for Covid-19.
“For travellers who fulfil these criteria, they can be given leeway to undergo mandatory quarantine at home but they are still subject to quarantine regulations set by the government during the isolation period to ensure there is no risk of spreading Covid-19 to others,” he wrote. – Malay Mail
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