THE Health Ministry must widen the definition of close contact in Covid-19 cases so that a wider range of potentially exposed people can be identified and curb the spread of the virus, said Rajiv Rishyakaran.

The Bukit Gasing assemblyman said the ministry’s current definition of a close contact does not truly cover every person in close proximity to an infected person.

He suggested that the ministry take a note out of the United States’ Centre for Disease Control (CDC) which defines close contact as “someone who was within 2m of an infected person for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period”.

The 24-hour period starts from two days before illness onset or for asymptomatic patients, two days prior to test specimen collection, until the time the patient is isolated.

In Malaysia, the ministry defines close contact as someone exposed by providing direct care for an infected patient, working with healthcare workers infected with Covid-19, visiting patients or staying in the same environment of a patient.

The ministry also defines a close contact as someone working in close proximity or sharing the same classroom environment with a Covid-19 patient, travelling together with a patient in any kind of conveyance, and those living in the same household as a patient.

“There is a big difference in the definitions of the CDC and the Health Ministry here, with the CDC covering a wider range of potentially exposed people, which is exactly what the ministry needs to emulate and redefine its criteria for close contact,” he said.

Rajiv said the ministry must also increase its mass testing beyond compulsory testing for foreign workers.

“By targeting mass testing only to foreign workers, the ministry is missing out on the bigger picture.

“We need to test more people and the only way to do that is to make testing more available and to expand the definition and scope of the term close contact.”

With the relaxation of the movement-control order and with inter-state travel allowed again, more and more people are at risk of being infected or infecting others. – December 14, 2020.