Covid-19 outbreak: No need to disrupt Parliament session, says KJ
COVID-19 | The Covid-19 outbreak in Parliament has yet to reach a stage where the premises have to be shut down, according to the Health Ministry.
Minister Khairy Jamaluddin told a press conference this afternoon that disrupting the Dewan Rakyat, which is in session, will only be the last resort.
"We already have a plan and also the experience on how to...
COVID-19 | The Covid-19 outbreak in Parliament has yet to reach a stage where the premises have to be shut down, according to the Health Ministry.
Minister Khairy Jamaluddin told a press conference this afternoon that disrupting the Dewan Rakyat, which is in session, will only be the last resort.
"We already have a plan and also the experience on how to address Covid-19 cases or clusters. Measures such as shutting down the Parliament will only be the last resort.
"If we can conduct Covid-19 screening tests frequently, let's say every two days, and be able to detect cases quickly and isolate the cases, then there is no need for us to disrupt the Parliament session," he said.
Khairy said with strategies including testing and vaccination, it is hoped that drastic measures need not be taken, such as a lockdown or movement control order whenever there is an outbreak.
He was responding to a journalist's question on whether his ministry sees any need to stop the Parliament session after 41 cases have been detected there between Oct 27 and Nov 28.
Yesterday, Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah in a statement revealed that a total of 84 Covid-19 cases have been detected through screening efforts for the Parliament session.
From the total, 18 were detected before Dewan Rakyat began its current session. Between Oct 27 and Nov 28, another 41 cases were found, before health authorities discovered 25 more on Nov 29.
According to Noor Hisham, the 25 cases were likely of the highly-infectious Delta variant.
A Parliament staff member, believed to be among the 84 cases, reportedly died of Covid-19 on Nov 28 while receiving treatment at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital.
He was admitted to the hospital on Nov 9 after he informed authorities that he was suffering from breathing difficulty.
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