KUALA LUMPUR, July 13 — The federal government today set up a special task force to make quick decisions for Covid-19 cases in the Greater Klang Valley.
Malaysia’s most developed state Selangor and Kuala Lumpur have persistently accounted for the majority of the cases in the country.
“We realise MCO has a lot of negative effects but at the same time if we allow them to open we must have some way of working with them so they take more responsibility.
“So the task force is to make sure there is a safe bubble to work and there must be a system in place to identify those who are ill,” Public Health deputy director-general Datuk Dr Chong Chee Kheong said in a press conference aired on Facebook this evening.
Dr Chong said that the only other solution to the Covid-19 crisis is vaccination and urged those who have yet to register for it to do so, adding that the Health Ministry is also stepping up its efforts to inoculate everyone, which he estimated to take about a month.
“So if the economic sector is to be reopened, we must take more responsibility. We’re empowering the public and they must adhere to the SOPs for their own personal protections,” he added.
Health secretary-general Datuk Mohd Shafiq Abdullah who was also in the news conference said more medical personnel will be sent to Klang Valley to handle the growing number of new infections.
He said 417 staff will be moved from other states to the Klang Valley to boost the existing team of 1,190 medical personnel for Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Negri Sembilan.
He also said the Health Ministry has also asked the Finance Ministry for RM1.2 billion more to fight Covid-19.
He added that the Finance Ministry has also agreed to increase the wages for the frontliners working in the intensive care units.
