KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 18 ― Opposition members in Parliament today suggested the Health Ministry to use bracelets installed with the GPS system for individuals who are required to undergo mandatory home quarantine, especially those who return from abroad.
Referring to the Covid-19 positive cases from the Sivagangga cluster in Kedah as an example, Dr Lee Boon Chye (PH-Gopeng) said there were weaknesses in the enforcement of the quarantine order under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988.
“There were cases of individuals returning from India have wandered everywhere causing the spread of the virus,” he said when debating the Temporary Measures for Government Financing (Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) Bill 2020 in the Dewan Rakyat today.
The former Deputy Health Minister also suggested the Health Ministry to send a special research team to study the cluster to be able to understand the mechanism of the Covid-19 infection better and to draw up ways of preventing the spread of the virus in future.
“The Sivagangga Cluster provides a 'golden opportunity' to understand how Covid-19 infection occurs. This is because we can clearly identify zero case, when the zero case occurred we are actually in a state of local infection at zero level, especially in Kedah, at that time," he added.
Dr Lee also suggested that the allocation for public health programmes and the number of the Health Ministry staff to be increased by at least 20 per cent in the next government planning following the Covid-19 pandemic, which has burdened all quarters, especially the Health Ministry. ― Bernama
