MYSEJAHTERA’S contact tracing will be updated with a new feature to alert travellers entering Malaysia from countries endemic to monkeypox, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said today.

He said the new feature will be available tomorrow and will allow travellers to conduct daily self-assessments to help monitor any risk of the disease.

“As of today, there are no reported cases of monkeypox in the country,” Khairy said in a press conference via Zoom from Geneva, Switzerland, where he is attending the World Health Assembly.

“Under the new feature, travellers from Central African countries and non-endemic countries with monkeypox cases, will not receive a home surveillance order (HSO), but will get a pop-up alert informing them to monitor themselves for 21 days, which is the incubation period.

“After filling out the pre-departure form in MySejahtera, travellers arriving from the country endemic to monkeypox or from a country reporting cases of monkeypox, will receive a health alert everyday for 21 days, which is the incubation period for the virus.”

Monkeypox is endemic to Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria.

Cases have however been reported in Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom and the United States.

Khairy said the main objective for the Health Ministry is to stop the disease from entering Malaysia.

To that end, he says the health protocol surrounding monkeypox is similar to that of Covid-19 as they are both infectious diseases.

“We are quite familiar with the protocol having gone through Covid-19. The HSO will also be replicated should there be an outbreak,” he said.

Khairy said that the surveillance capability at international points of entry have also been enhanced.

“We have instructed both our health officers at point of entry and immigration officers to be on the lookout for symptoms and for those passengers to be referred to health authorities.

“We are also increasing our diagnostic capabilities. The polymerase chain reaction can detect monkeypox, so we are expanding procurement for reagents and other molecular testing.

“Public and private hospitals, as well as clinics have been briefed for early detection of symptoms and hospitals are ready with isolation wards.”

In terms of monkeypox vaccination, Khairy said there will not be any mass inoculation exercise. Instead, the vaccine will only be offered to close contacts and healthcare workers, he added. – May 26, 2022.