The World Cup fever has affected Khairy Jamaluddin. But his attempt to wriggle out of work failed.

Sharing a light moment with Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, he jokingly tweeted: "Boss, saya demam panas, badan sakit tak boleh bangun sejak semalam. Maaf tak dapat kerja hari ini, esok hantar slip MC #CubaNasib."

(Boss, I am having high fever, body aching all over, cannot wake up since last night. Sorry, I can't come in to work today, will send in the MC tomorrow).

This prompted Najib to tweet back: "Glad you felt well enough to come for cabinet meeting #Mcditolak (MC rejected)."

Khairy, who is also youth and sports minister, noted how this should serve as a lesson.

He replied: "Pengajaran bagi semua yang mahu kelentong boss masing-masing semasa World Cup." (A lesson for all those who intend to lie to their bosses during the World Cup)

Responding to the exchange, Gerakan Youth chief Tan Keng Liang tweeted: "Kantoi... caught."

Prior to this, Khairy tweeted about how his face looked like that of cat due to being deprived of sleep after catching the opening match between Brazil and Croatia, which was screened live in Malaysia at 4am today.

On a serious note, Cuepacs recently advised civil servants to ensure that they are fit to work despite watching the live telecast of world cup soccer matches in the wee hours.

Cuepacs president Azih Muda said civil servants who wanted to watch the matches, the live telecasts of which will be after 3am, should get some sleep earlier in the night.