GEORGE TOWN, Dec 15 — It is time for the government to reinstate the Test, Report, Isolate, Inform, Seek (TRIIS) framework to prepare Malaysians for a possible new wave of Covid-19 infections, Ong Kian Ming and Khairy Jamaluddin said in a joint statement.
The duo said the Health Ministry (MoH) should take precautionary measures in case of another prolonged wave of Covid-19 cases.
“In light of the new Covid-19 cases reaching a yearly high of 29,129 cases on December 11, which is part of a regional and global trend, we call upon Datuk Seri Dzulkefly to consider the following action items in preparation of a prolonged increase in the number of cases as part of a emergent Covid ‘wave’,” they said in the statement today after congratulating Datuk Seri Dzulkefly Ahmad over his appointment as the health minister.
They suggested that the ministry recommends new booster shots especially among vulnerable communities, the aged and those with pre-existing conditions.
“MoH should work together with the Ministry of Finance (MoF) to facilitate a transparent procurement process for the latest variants of the booster vaccine which are available in the market,” they said.
They said MoH should also start to reactivate the vaccination programme through private and public health facilities.
They said the use of MySejahtera should also be restarted for monitoring and reporting of Covid-19 patients.
“At the same time, the ministry should also deploy its data analytics team (or work with others with data analytics capabilities) to analyse new Covid-19 data to look for new patterns of outbreaks based on location, workplace, and other patient demographics,” they said.
They said the researchers can also access the Covid-19 public data here to assist in the data analytics tasks.
They said MoH should also work with Minister of International Trade and Industry (Miti) and Ministry of Human Resources to detect outbreaks among factory workers and to investigate the living conditions of those workers.
They said the “factory clusters” that arose during the pandemic as due to the cramped and overcrowded living conditions of most of the foreign factory workers.
“Strong action must be taken against those companies which still house their foreign workers in poor conditions which are not compliant with international labour standards,” they said.
Finally, they said MoH should publicise daily Covid-19 fatalities to keep the public informed on the severity of new strains.
This way, they said, it will encourage the public to take their booster shots, especially among the most at-risk groups.
“We hope that this latest spike in Covid-19 cases will only be a temporary one but given our previous experience during the pandemic, we should be vigilant and take the necessary precautions to protect the lives of those living in our country,” they said.
Khairy Jamaluddin was the minister of health (MoH) in the Perikatan Nasional administration while Ong was the deputy minister of international trade and industry (Miti) in the Pakatan Harapan government.
