MOH won't disclose Covid-19 affected locations to avoid stigmatisation

 

The Health Ministry will not reveal the locations of where Covid-19 are detected to avoid stigmatisation, Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said.

Instead of disclosing the exact locations, he said the better way is to sanitise the locations to ensure it is safe and allow it to reopen for public access.

"We do not identify or even announce that we are doing screening (in any location) because we don't want to create stigmatisation in that region.

"What we are trying to avoid is, once there is a case, you don't want to go to the school, that condo or that mall because of the fear," he said at his daily briefings.

Noor Hisham was asked to confirm if cases detected in a condominium in Petaling Jaya are linked to the Utama cluster and if the cases involved workers of the 1 Utama Shopping Centre.

The index case of the Utama cluster was a security guard at the mall.

Noor Hisham added that the ministry has been under immense pressure to reveal these locations but said it will instead focus on ensuring the affected locations are safe to reopen.

"We do our best. If there is a case, we will clean up that area, but we do not want stigmatisation of the restaurant, the mall or even a condominium," he said.

On Tuesday, Bangi MP Ong Kian Ming urged the ministry to emulate Singapore in revealing locations affected to empower the public to take precautions.

Singapore publishes a list of locations where patients had visited for more than 30 minutes, while they were infectious.

Ong said this helps build public confidence, instead of the vague announcements identifying a wider district which could cause distress to everyone living in the district. - Mkini