Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin today warned about the possibility of restarting enforcement exercises as many people have started to show a lackadaisical attitude in observing the Covid-19 standard operating procedures (SOP).
As a new Covid-19 infection wave has started in the country, Khairy reminded the public to continue observing the Covid-19 SOP that is still in place, including wearing face masks in indoor spaces.
"We found that in many cases, there are individuals who have not been wearing face masks even when they are indoors.
"I just want to remind Malaysians that wearing a face mask indoors is still compulsory. It's only that we have stopped issuing compounds since April 17, as we want to focus on community empowerment and individual responsibility during the shift towards the endemic phase.
"However, if the number of cases continues to increase, and when there is a drastic increase, the Health Ministry does not discount the possibility of bringing back the enforcement of Act 342, especially against those who fail to wear masks in indoor spaces," he told a press conference held in the Parliament earlier today.
Asked whether MOH has a certain threshold before it considers reintroducing compounds against SOP offenders, Khairy stressed that they are hoping that it won't go to that stage.
‘MOH has limited enforcement capabilities’
He said the ministry does not want to go back, especially as the country is already moving towards an endemic stage.
MOH has limited enforcement capabilities, Khairy added, as the power to enforce Act 342 is no longer extended to other government agencies.
The minister also took the opportunity to make a joke about his fellow cabinet members, many of whom had previously been found violating the pandemic law.
"Besides, if we start issuing compound notices again, my fellow minister friends would definitely be among those who will get it," he said in jest.
Khairy held the conference to announce that the country is seeing a new wave of Covid-19 outbreak, with the number of new daily cases showing a 31 percent increase in the last epidemic week compared to the previous week.
The number of Covid-19 patients hospitalised had also increased by 13.7 percent from 835 to 968 patients.
According to Khairy, the spike in the number of new cases was something that MOH had expected.
The authority is also expecting the figure to continue increasing as BA5 - a sublineage of Omicron Covid-19 variant - has been detected in the country.
As of June 30, MOH detected 13 cases involving sublineages of Omicron, including five of them BA5.
Khairy said the sublineage is highly contagious and responsible for the increasing number of Covid-19 cases globally.
BA5 also has "immune escape property", which means that it can infect individuals who had previously been infected with Omicron.
"This is why nowadays we hear that many people get reinfected with Covid-19 in a short time gap," Khairy added. - Mkini
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