KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 5 — Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein today declared that he has been released from mandatory home quarantine, as he has tested negative for all three of his Covid-19 tests.
Following the three negative test results, Hishammuddin said the Health Ministry had today via the Petaling district’s health office issued a letter to confirm that their inspections had found that his health status is satisfactory and that he is given a release from his home surveillance order (HSO) starting from today.
“With this confirmation, I will return to carry out my duties at my office in Wisma Putra, Putrajaya as usual starting from tomorrow, Tuesday, October 6, 2020,” he said in a brief statement.
Hishammuddin was previously ordered by the Health Ministry on September 28 to undergo home quarantine as he was a close contact of a Covid-19 patient in Sabah while assisting in Barisan Nasional’s campaign for Sabah’s state election.
The campaign period for the Sabah election was from September 12 to September 25, while voting day was on September 26.
On September 28, Hishammuddin announced on Facebook that he had been ordered by the Health Ministry on the same day to undergo self-quarantine at his residence despite having tested negative in his Covid-19 test upon his return from Sabah, due to him having visited Pitas to assist in the election campaign of BN’s Pitas candidate Sufian Abdul Karim who had on September 26 declared testing positive for Covid-19.
Hishammuddin said he had visited Pitas to help in Sufian’s campaign on September 21.
Hishammuddin listed the three dates where he had undergone Covid-19 tests, along with photographs of the written test results that all showed that he had tested negative.
The first test was taken on September 22 (Tuesday) at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (KLIA2) via a rapid antigen test, while the second test was a PCR test on September 28 (Monday), and the third test was a PCR test taken on October 4 (yesterday), based on the photographs.
Based on the photographs attached to Hishammuddin’s Facebook post, the results for all three tests were all made available on the same day the tests were taken, with the third test’s result out within 10 hours after the test was conducted in the morning at a private hospital.
In concluding his Facebook post, Hishammuddin expressed his appreciation to the Health Ministry and all personnel who had helped him throughout his home quarantine.
Last week, Hishammuddin had remotely signed a historic document on behalf of Malaysia to ratify an international treaty with a video shown of him signing it, instead of personally and physically attending the signing ceremony as he was still under the home surveillance order. His speech was read out by deputy minister Datuk Kamaruddin Jaafar.
With Malaysia signing on the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) as the 46th nation, only four more countries need to ratify it to achieve ratification by a minimum of 50 signatories for the international accord to be effective.
