KUALA LUMPUR, June 30 ― Students who have applied for early vaccination for the purpose of traveling abroad for studies can expect their application to be processed within 10 days, National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme coordinating minister Khairy Jamaluddin said today.

Khairy said the new feature has been updated and is now accessible by users through their MySejahtera application beginning June 28, adding that applicants could also check their status under the vaccination tab in the MySejahtera app after the 10-days processing period.

"Their applications must be supported with official documents and said documents must also be presented during their appointment for confirmation at their respective vaccination centres,” he said during a joint weekly press conference with Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba here.

Khairy said the introduction of the new feature is to ensure seamless management of students required to fulfill vaccination requirements before they are allowed entry into another country for the purpose of furthering or continuing their studies at their respective educational institutions.

However, Khairy said other applications on traveling overseas for the purpose of employment, medical treatment and others were still required to be submitted to permohonan@vaksincovid.gov.my for consideration.

Yesterday, the Health Ministry in announcing the new feature said those who have previously applied through the aforementioned email were still considered valid and in the process of being reviewed.

A general guideline of how to go about with the registration can be obtained from the Health Ministry’s official Facebook page here.

In a separate matter, Dr Adham maintained that the Hotspot Identification by Dynamic Engagement (HIDE) managed by the Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre (CPRC) was still being utilised by the Health Ministry to date.

"It is true that CPRC under the Health Ministry publishes data daily whereby measures have been taken.

"As the health minister, I take it upon myself to ensure quick actions are taken on identifying, tracing, detecting, isolating and treating, including advising facilities which are claimed to have caused or can potentially cause the emergence of a cluster.

"They are given orders to sanitise before allowing them to resume their operations to prevent the emergence of any new clusters as identified by HIDE,” he said.

The early warning system ― developed by the CPRC under the Health Ministry ― is aimed at pre-emptively "identifying” a potential Covid-19 hotspot before a possible cluster outbreak is confirmed.

This means that hotspots identified by HIDE have the potential to contribute to a cluster outbreak if proactive intervention is not taken.