MySejahtera to be reactivated for monkeypox - Khairy

 

Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has revealed that MySejahtera will be reactivated tomorrow due to growing concerns surrounding the monkeypox virus.

Khairy, in a virtual press conference today, said that Malaysia would be taking a precautionary approach to the virus.

“We want to make sure that we increase our surveillance capability, especially at our international points of entry, (such as) our international airports.

“We’ve instructed both our health officers at our international points of entry as well as our immigration officers to be on the lookout for symptoms of monkeypox and for those passengers to be visitors to be referred immediately to the health authorities at our international airports,” he said.

“As of tomorrow, the MySejahtera application will be updated so that passengers, coming from countries where monkeypox is endemic and also from countries where monkeypox is non-endemic but there have been reported cases of, will receive an alert so that they can monitor their symptoms for 21 days,” added Khairy.

He explained that this was due to the virus’s 21 day-long incubation period.

Earlier this month, the health minister announced MySejahtera’s latest update, which included an “Infectious Disease Tracker”.

In a tweet, Khairy said the tracker would allow people to view hotspots of infectious diseases, such as hand, foot and mouth disease.

Other infectious diseases displayed include rabies, measles, and dengue.

This new feature replaces the app’s Covid-19 hotspot tracker, which can still be tracked alongside other infectious diseases.

Khairy previously said the app would continue to be improved with new features, in line with Malaysia’s transition-to-endemic phase of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The MySejahtera app was initially created to assist in managing Covid-19 outbreaks in the country.

Preparing for an outbreak

Khairy said efforts are underway to increase the diagnostic capability to detect monkeypox.

“Our diagnostic capacity for the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test can detect monkeypox.

“We will expand our capacity as well as our ability to procure more reagents to ensure that we have the capacity to test for monkeypox using the PCR as well as other molecular testing,” he said.

According to the health minister, the country’s public hospitals, private hospitals and clinics have been instructed to be ready for early detection of symptoms - with hospitals prepared in their isolation wards to treat monkeypox patients.

Khairy said that there are no current plans for mass vaccination, similar to the Covid-19 vaccine drive, to take place.

Rather, the ministry will take on a more targeted approach and is preparing vaccination strategies for close contacts and health workers in the event of a monkeypox outbreak in the country.

“We are also preparing a ring vaccination strategy for close contacts and also for our health care workers if there is an outbreak of monkeypox in Malaysia.

“We are quite familiar with the protocols for infectious disease - having gone through Covid-19 for two years,” said Khairy.

This referred to the protocols of isolation, contact tracing, and the utilisation of MySejahtera home surveillance orders - which will be replicated in the event of a monkeypox outbreak.

Khairy clarified that as of today (May 26), there are no detected cases of monkeypox in Malaysia.

He mentioned that other strategies taken on by the Health Ministry would be to boost community risk communication in order to educate the public on the symptoms of monkeypox and how it can be avoided.

The Health Ministry warned Malaysians in endemic countries or in countries with reported monkeypox cases to avoid activities that could cause infection. This includes avoiding consumption of uncooked meat and staying away from wild animals, among others

Khairy also warned symptomatic travellers to delay their trips abroad.

Further, overseas Malaysians showing symptoms were told to get checked at their closest health facility immediately. - Mkini