Covid under control, no need to close borders, says minister


Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa says the Covid-19 situation in the country is under control and the people’s awareness is good. – The Malaysian Insight file pic, January 12, 2023.

THE Covid-19 situation in the country is under control and there is no need for the government to close the borders, Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa said.

However, she said the government is taking precautionary measures by implementing certain approaches at the checkpoints to curb infections.

She said as of Tuesday, there were no infections or symptoms detected at border entry points, although the country had received 7,000 tourists from China since January 8.

“The Covid-19 situation is under control and the people’s awareness is good. As such, the situation does not warrant us to close the borders,” she told reporters after the handing over of the Pendang Hospital project by the Works Ministry in Pendang today.

Also present was the Tunku Mahkota of Kedah Tunku Shazuddin Ariff Al Aminul Karim Sultan Sallehuddin.

Zaliha said although the number of screenings reached tens of thousands every day, the number of positive cases detected throughout the country was low.

On Pendang Hospital, she said it will start operating on February 15 and is expected to benefit 110,000 residents in the surrounding area.

“There are various services in this hospital, including emergency and outpatient, and there are 126 beds in total,” she said.

The construction of the hospital started in May 2018 and was completed last October at a cost of RM255.27 million, including construction as well as medical and non-medical procurement.

The minor specialist hospital features 11 specialist fields – emergency, general medicine, general surgery, orthopaedics, anaesthesiology, radiology, obstetrics and gynaecology, paediatrics, pathology and psychiatry. – Bernama, January 12, 2023.


Sign up or sign in here to comment.


Comments