KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 13 — The Ministry of Health (MOH) today announced that it has revised the quarantine period from two weeks to 10 days for all travellers and close contacts of Covid-19 positive patients.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said this will take effect starting tomorrow.

He said that the revision is in line with the current Covid-19 situation in the country and clinical reports worldwide.

He noted that several countries have revised their mandatory quarantine period.

He listed the United Kingdom, Germany and Belgium as similarly reducing the length of days in quarantine period from 14 days to 10 days.

France, he said, has shortened it to just seven days.

"A recent review of clinical scientific evidence suggests that the risk of post-quarantine infection will decrease according to the quarantine time period. The rate of infection is highest in the first week after exposure.

"Therefore, based on the implementation of quarantine period by other countries in the world and current clinical scientific reports, the duration of surveillance and observation orders for travellers returning from abroad and close contact management in Malaysia is reduced from 14 days to 10 days,” Dr Noor Hisham said.

He added that this new quarantine rule applies for the supervision and observation of those in gazetted quarantine centres, as well as those in private residences.