KUALA LUMPUR, April 27 — Malaysians no longer need to scan using the MySejahtera contact tracing application to enter premises starting May 1, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin announced today.

However, premises owners can check their visitors’ health status to verify if they are tested positive for Covid-19, are high-risk individuals or have been issued the home surveillance order (HSO).

Khairy however strongly urged members of the public to turn on their MySJ Trace function to enable contact tracing for Covid-19 infection cases.

In a press conference today, Khairy also announced that physical distancing is no longer mandated, as the requirement in the National Security Council’s (NSC) standard operating procedure (SOP) issued on April 1, 2022 has also been revised.

“Taking into account that all activities have been permitted with the use of 100 per cent space capacity, therefore the physical distancing between individuals or groups is not required. Nevertheless, physical distancing is encouraged in situations where face masks are not worn.

“Again, it is our judgment to make sure there is adequate distancing,” Khairy added.

During the press conference, Khairy was also asked if the government would avoid signing any contract with the company that owns MySejahtera, before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) tables its report on the matter.

“The Ministry of Health’s (MOH) decision to sign this contract is not subject to the PAC’s report. The sooner we finalise the contract to get certainty, it is better for all parties,” Khairy said in a brief reply.

News portal CodeBlue reported the Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) recently urging Putrajaya not to formalise its MySejahtera contract with MySJ Sdn Bhd before it tables its report on the smartphone application in the Dewan Rakyat in July.

PAC chairman Wong Kah Woh reportedly said in a statement, that the PAC will table the findings from its inquiry into the procurement and development of MySejahtera in the first week of the next Dewan Rakyat meeting that is scheduled to begin on July 18.

Last week, Wong said that the government appeared to be “confused” and could not ascertain who decided on the development and procurement of the MySejahtera mobile application.

He said that there was major confusion on which specific official or agency appointed KPISoft Sdn Bhd to develop MySejahtera, the government’s official Covid-19 tracking app, in April 2020.

The PAC investigation was initiated after news broke that MySejahtera’s developer Entomo Malaysia was in a five-year licence agreement with its nominee’s subsidiary MySJ for the transfer of the MySejahtera app to the latter for a RM338.6 million price tag.

MySejahtera’s ownership also caught public attention following a shareholder dispute initiated by MySJ’s 7.03 per cent shareholder P2 Asset Management Sdn Bhd against Revolusi Asia Sdn Bhd, Entomo Malaysia and MySJ.

Revolusi is a nominee for Entomo in holding the majority stake of 81.43 per cent in MySJ.

The app was originally a CSR initiative by Entomo Malaysia, then known as KPISoft.

Despite Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob previously saying that the government would pay for MySejahtera’s usage from April 1, 2021, the PAC confirmed that no payment has been made so far.