KUCHING, May 1 — Malaysians must be constantly reminded that Covid-19 remains a threat to the collective health of the people albeit the country is transitioning to endemicity, said the Malaysian Health Coalition (MHC).
In a statement today, the coalition said it welcomed the looser Covid-19 restrictions beginning today (May 1), but asked that the “country treads cautiously”.
“We especially welcome the cautious approach of lifting mask mandate in open spaces, outdoors whilst maintaining mask mandate indoors and on public transportation including e-hailing vehicles.
“However, only 43 per cent of Malaysian children aged five to 11 have received at least one dose of the vaccine; and no vaccinations are available for children below the age of five.
“Children are thus at risk of contracting severe Covid-19 and our policies must protect them. Therefore, the removal of mask mandate in outdoor areas right before Hari Raya Aidilfitri holidays should proceed with caution,” said MHC.
The coalition said the government should continue to focus on educating the public, especially on self-test reporting to ensure all self-tests are reported.
It said the public must play their part as responsible citizens.
“The public should report all self-test results via MySejahtera and undergo home quarantine if their status on MySejahtera profile is high-risk or if they have been issued Home Surveillance Orders (HSO),” pointed out MHC.
According to the coalition, the relaxation of restrictions may be considered appropriate if it is based on sound evidence.
It, however, said these policies must not be set in stone.
“If the epidemiological, virological or public health situations change, then the policies must be re-considered. Specifically, the Test-and-Release policy allowing for release from quarantine on Day 4 if a supervised RTK Antigen test returns negative may need to be reconsidered.”
MHC stressed the need to increase the country’s genomic sequencing capacity to detect variants and to inform the country’s public policies. — Borneo Post
