FORMER health minister Khairy Jamaluddin and former deputy international trade and industry minister  Ong Kian Ming have urged Putrajaya to take measures to avert another prolonged “wave” of Covid-19 cases in Malaysia.

In a joint statement today, they urged new Health Minister Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad to consider several preventive measures.

“In light of new Covid-19 cases reaching a yearly high of 29,129 cases on December, 11 2023, which is part of a regional and global trend, we call upon Dr Dzulkefly to consider the following action items in preparation of a prolonged increase number of cases as part of a emergent Covid wave,” they said. 

They said the Health Ministry (MOH) should reinstate the test, report, isolate, inform, seek method to alert the public to take preventive measures and for the public sector to be prepared for the possibility of a new wave of Covid-19 infections.

They said the authority should recommend new booster shots, especially to the vulnerable communities – the aged and people with pre-existing health conditions. 

“MOH should work together with the Finance Ministry to facilitate a transparent procurement process for the latest variants of the booster vaccine available in the market. 

“At the same time, MOH should start to reactivate the vaccination ecosystem through the private and public clinics and hospitals.”

They said the MOH should consider reviving the MySejahtera app for the purposes of reporting and monitoring the health of Covid-19 patients. 

“At the same time, the ministry should also deploy its data analytics team (or work with others with data analytics capabilities) to analyse new Covid-19 data to look for new patterns of outbreaks based on location, workplace, and other patient demographics. 

“Researchers can also access Covid-19 public data at https://github.com/MOH-Malaysia/covid19-public to assist in the data analytics tasks.”

They said the MOH should work closely with the International Trade and Industry and Human Resources Ministries to detect patterns of outbreaks among factory workers and look into the living conditions of these workers. 

“One of the reasons for the ‘factory clusters’ that took place during the pandemic was the fact that many of these workers, mostly foreign, were cramped into housing that was overcrowded and without proper ventilation. 

“Strong action must be taken against those companies which still house their foreign workers in poor conditions which are not compliant with international labour standards.”

They urged the MOH to consider publishing daily Covid-19 fatalities as a means of keeping the public informed of the severity of new strains and to encourage people to take their booster shots.

“We hope that this latest spike in Covid-19 cases will only be a temporary one but given our previous experience during the pandemic, we should be vigilant and take the necessary precautions to protect the lives of those living in our country.” – December 15, 2023.