MOH: Still waiting for WHO guidelines, but wear face if you have symptoms

CORONAVIRUS | The Health Ministry is still waiting for guidelines on face mask from the World Health Organisation (WHO) but said it should be the case if you have symptoms.

“We are also waiting for the guidelines from the WHO but the WHO is more open to looking into the evidence, whether there is specific evidence or not, but we have advised our healthcare frontliners to wear face masks when facing the public.

“For the public, if you have symptoms, then, by all means, put on a mask.

“The question is should everyone always wear masks but if you are exposing yourself to the public, perhaps you should, but again we need to look into evidence first,” said Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah in a press conference in Putrajaya today.

This is after the World Health Organisation said it is now open to broader use of masks.

He also spoke about the Sri Petaling tabligh gathering cluster, saying that they have taken 17,012 samples so far, with 1,591 tested positive, 10,912 negative and 4,509 results still pending.

Hisham (photo) also thanked the police and the tabligh gathering committee for their cooperation in helping track down and encourage those who attended the gathering to step forward to get tested.

However, he noted that there are still Malaysians overseas in Sulawesi, India and Pakistan who are yet to return.

Hisham again called for the police to cooperate with them to track down these individuals once they return from overseas.

Any Malaysian who returns from overseas, he reiterated, will now have to be quarantined for 14 days in one of the gazetted quarantine centres. Initially, they were allowed to self-quarantine at home for 14 days.

As of April 3, Hisham said 1,500 Malaysians have returned and were screened.

So far, there have been 15 cases found with symptoms who have been isolated and will be screened for the disease, he added. - Mkini