MOH encourages daily Covid-19 self-test for returning travellers
Travellers returning to Malaysia from overseas, especially those coming from their umrah pilgrimage, are highly encouraged to self-test for Covid-19 every day while they are under home quarantine, said Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.
This comes after the rise of Omicron cases detected in Malaysia, including in 30 travellers who returned from Saudi Arabia after performing their umrah pilgrimage.
Travellers returning to Malaysia from overseas, especially those coming from their umrah pilgrimage, are highly encouraged to self-test for Covid-19 every day while they are under home quarantine, said Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.
This comes after the rise of Omicron cases detected in Malaysia, including in 30 travellers who returned from Saudi Arabia after performing their umrah pilgrimage.
Khairy said there are many cases now where those returning from abroad test negative for Covid-19 pre-departure and upon arrival but test positive a few days later.
“This means they were infected but cannot be detected during the pre-departure test and the test upon arrival (in Malaysia). So that is something new that we are learning about Omicron now.
“So that is why it is important for us to encourage anyone who has returned from high-risk nations to self-test daily during their quarantine period, especially those returning from the umrah pilgrimage because there are many Omicron cases from umrah pilgrimage trips,” the minister said in a press conference today at the Health Ministry in Putrajaya, which was also live-streamed online.
He noted that the Health Ministry would also inform tourism companies that manage umrah pilgrimage trips to ensure that those who want to go to Saudi Arabia to perform their umrah must receive their booster dose before they leave.
There has been a sudden increase in Covid-19 cases in Saudi Arabia recently, Khairy said, which the Health Ministry is monitoring.
For now, the ministry will ramp up their current approach first, assigning returning travellers with a digital tracker and issuing home quarantine orders, among others, he said.
There are no plans to take any drastic actions yet, but Khairy said if the situation in Saudi Arabia worsens and the spread of Omicron from umrah pilgrims returning becomes more concerning, then they may be forced to send people to quarantine centres instead of home quarantine.
The Health Minister said the last resort would be to postpone umrah, but Malaysia is not at that level yet.
Travel ban doesn't make sense anymore
Khairy also reminded those undergoing home quarantine that it is crucial to ensure they isolate themselves from their family members living in the same house.
“Your family members are not under the home surveillance orders (HSO). They can go out.
“If you are found positive later and it is Omicron and you did not isolate yourself from them while you are at home, that means your family can be infected and can infect others outside. This is how Omicron can spread widely.
“So I implore those returning from anywhere overseas to really comply with the HSO – not just by staying at home but also by isolating from your other family members,” he said.
He pointed to a case in Bintulu where someone had violated their HSO and later tested positive for the Omicron variant of Covid-19.
That person’s HSO was up till Dec 19, but they had left their house on Dec 17, he said.
“We have tested eight close contacts in the Bintulu case, and we found all eight to be negative so far, but I will ask the health officers there to continue doing contact tracing and make sure the close contacts are tested.
“We are also looking at the case and seeing what happened here,” Khairy said.
Meanwhile, Khairy said the temporary travel ban on eight countries – South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Malawi – have been lifted.
Instead, the eight countries have been moved into the list of high-risk countries, making it a total of 18 countries on that list.
“(The travel ban) doesn’t make sense anymore because Omicron is now coming in from everywhere, and the cases over there (in those eight countries) have also gone down,” he explained.
