Khairy says Health Ministry ever ready to face possible Covid-19 surge after polling day
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 17 — The Health Ministry is fully equipped to handle any possible surge in Covid-19 cases after polling for the 15th general election this Saturday, Khairy Jamaluddin said today.
The caretaker health minister said public health officials had handled the previous Omicron wave with aplomb when it hit.
“I can assure that our hospital, our clinics, and our end-to-end process from testing to isolation is entirely online and digitised now is in place and has not gone anywhere.
“If anything happens and of course, we pray that nothing does happen, we are more than prepared to accommodate a surge in any infectious disease from now on, not just Covid-19,” he said during a news conference at Hospital Sungai Buloh this morning.
He added that Covid-19 infections have decreased by 13.4 per cent between November 6 and November 12, compared to the week before, while hospital admissions have also plateaued.
"Although there is a slight increase in fatality rate at 0.07 per cent, a comparison for the same week, that's well below the three per cent that we set.
"As such, I am confident that the Covid-19 situation in the country is under control. The small wave has peaked, please feel safe to go out to vote," he told reporters.
He added that voters who are infected with Covid-19 must show their MySejahtera status to the Ministry of Health (KKM) staff, who will be stationed outside their respective polling centres.
"If you are Covid-19 positive, please identify yourself to the KKM staff. They will verify your MySejahtera status.
"As I mentioned yesterday, there will be no special lane for Covid-19 positive voters, but the KKM staff will escort the patient to the door of the voting room. They will not queue with the other voters.
"For voters, please be patient if you see KKM staff at your voting streams bringing a voter in straight to vote, know that those are voters who have public health considerations for us to allow them to vote and leave the polling station as quickly as possible," he said.
He added that face masks are only mandatory for Covid-19 patients, but still highly encourages non-positive Covid-19 voters to keep their masks on.
All voters also are required to sanitise their hands before dipping their fingertips in the indelible ink to minimise the risk of spreading Covid-19.
"We know it's an airborne virus, and yes there is some risk of it being on surfaces but we feel that as long as they sanitise their hands or their finger before they dip it in, that should be safe enough," he said, adding that sanitisers will be made available at the polling stations.
Khairy said a total of 60 cases of Omicron XBB sub-variant have been reported in Malaysia so far.
On a separate note, he said Covid-19 patients that have taken Paxlovid, the antiviral pill, as medication has gone through a full recovery.
