KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 19 — Over 500 check-ins in Kedah were found to be breaking quarantine, with 18 per cent found to have checked in at supermarkets using the MySejahtera application, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said.
He said 18 per cent of those who violated their Home Surveillance Order (HSO) were either Covid-19 positive or classified as high-risk individuals.
“I have informed the Mentri Besar that in this one week alone, 523 MySejahtera check-ins happened, whereby these check-ins are involving those who are positive, or those who are given the HSO.
“So, we ask owners of any premises to have screening done strictly. If they manage to check in, this means the security personnel or the guards there did not check properly, they just let them enter,” he said during the Kedah Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF) press conference with Mentri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor.
He said that the names of such individuals will be sent to the district health offices for further action to be taken.
Khairy also said 17 per cent of adults in Kedah have yet to get their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.
“Now the issue is not the supply. Supply is enough. It is more than enough. In Covid-19 vaccination centres (PPVs), there are a lot of vaccines, just not enough people [to administer] now, and we hope that the 17 per cent of adults can be vaccinated as soon as possible.
“We, our target now is that more than 90 per cent of adults must be fully vaccinated with two doses. Only then can we get wider protection,” he said.
Khairy added he had also requested Muhammad Sanusi to focus on districts such as Pendang and Baling which he said has become districts where some are “a little left out” in terms of vaccination coverage.
He also called for cooperation from community leaders and district officers to enforce the standard operating procedures (SOPs), for vaccinated individuals, which would then prod those refusing vaccination to get their shots.
Khairy also called for extra vigilance at entrances to mosques, asking congregants to be vetted carefully to ensure they have completed their vaccination.
“I want to also announce that tomorrow, we will begin vaccinating teenagers in Kedah also, which will be done at either public vaccination centres or in schools and in Kedah, there are over 180,000 teenagers who will be vaccinated and the vaccine supply suffices, God willing.
“We will start and end vaccination for teenagers in Kedah within the next one month,” he added.
*Note: A previous edition of the story contained an error which has since been corrected.
