Dr Noor Hisham: 24.8pc under home quarantine didn’t self-assess, 10pc no-show for second Covid-19 screening

KUALA LUMPUR, July 23 — Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah revealed today that 24.8 per cent of those undergoing the Home Surveillance Order (HSO) from July 7 to 20 did not use the Home Assessment Tool function — a feature for individuals to undergo self-assessment that needs to be done every day during the quarantine period at home which is for 14 days.

Even more alarming was his revelation that 10 per cent of more than 18,000 of those who should have finished their home quarantine did not even undergo their second screening on the 13th day of quarantine to ensure they are free of Covid-19.

“So far, the number of travellers returning from abroad, namely Persons Under Surveillance (PUS) who are required to undergo HSO, is 31,674 and the number who have completed the quarantine period is 18,416.

“We have informed PDRM to take action against the 10 per cent who are non-compliant. We hope the police can locate every one of the 10 per cent,” he said during the Health Ministry’s press conference today.

Dr Noor Hisham added that he is worried with the compliance of the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) as more and more people have resumed their pre-Covid-19 pandemic lives by eating at the restaurants, shopping at supermarkets and working in offices.

He said that data analysis through the MySejahtera app showed that although the number of registered users increased over the last three weeks, the number of check-ins at premises such as restaurants and supermarkets was showing a downward trend.

“This indicates that compliance with the SOP is declining.

“Premises owners and the general public are reminded to continue complying with the SOP set so that we can jointly break the chain of Covid-19 infection in society,” he said.

On another matter, Dr Noor Hisham said those who enter the country must adhere to a 14-day quarantine in public training institutes or hotels as instructed by the government from tomorrow.

He said that the instruction before that required a Covid-19 test three days before a flight is no longer valid with the new order.

“We had a mandatory three-day test at an early stage, but we are re-implementing the mandatory quarantine at public training institutes or hotels.

“We do not require a three-day test but it depends on the departure country or the airlines or planes that they board,” he said.

On Tuesday, Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said all returnees from abroad, whether Malaysian citizens or not, are required to undergo mandatory quarantine at centres designated by the government from tomorrow (July 24).

He said those who undergo the mandatory quarantine will have to bear full accommodation costs, be it in hotels or other quarantine centres.

He added the decision to bring back mandatory quarantine at designated facilities was due to several cases of those caught eating outside their homes when they were supposed to be in isolation.

Malaysia has detected 15 new clusters since last week with active cases hitting triple digits yesterday.