Interstate travel, social activities spark 14 new clusters
COVID-19 | Interstate travel and social activities have led to the rise of 14 new coronavirus clusters.
According to Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, there were five clusters linked to inter-district and interstate travel after the activity was allowed on Dec 7...
COVID-19 | Interstate travel and social activities have led to the rise of 14 new coronavirus clusters.
According to Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, there were five clusters linked to inter-district and interstate travel after the activity was allowed on Dec 7.
In Pahang, there were three clusters reported, namely Intan, Semambu and Tembok Mempaga.
Kelantan and Perak have the Seragam Chepa and Ehsan Ibol clusters respectively.
Meanwhile, the emergence of nine clusters was due to social activities.
They are known as Gerbang Pongsu in Perak; Lintas Seraya (Sabah); Sungai Redan (Johor); Maringkan (Sabah), Cassia Diamond (Penang and Selangor); Paginatan (Sabah); Sungai Burong (Selangor and Negeri Sembilan); Kupi-Kupi (Sabah); and Bandar Impian (Johor, Kelantan, Perak).
Last month, Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced the lifting of the inter-district and interstate travel ban after the government decided to end the conditional movement control order (MCO) in most areas.
However, there was an exception for areas under the enhanced MCO.
Ismail had cited the country's potential GDP losses of RM300 million per day if the conditional MCO was continued.
Meanwhile, Noor Hisham said Covid-19 vaccination is not an immunity passport, hence it does not mean that those who get the shot soon can travel anywhere they want.
"Covid-19 vaccination is still very new. We are still discussing and observing closely.
"At the moment it’s not an immunity passport. Meaning when you are vaccinated you can travel anywhere - no (this is not the case).
"So we still need to look into the efficiency of the vaccine. And time will tell. Probably in another four to six months and a decision can be made then," he added.
Malaysia is expected to receive its first batch of Pfizer-BioNTech's Covid-19 vaccines next month.
Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin announced that the government estimated it will cost RM3 billion to get at least 70 percent of the population vaccinated.
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