GEORGE TOWN, Nov 3 — Penang state exco Jagdeep Singh Deo today warned civil servants in the state that stern disciplinary action will be taken against those who refuse to receive the Covid-19 vaccine without any valid reason.

He said it is the duty of all civil servants, as frontliners, to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19.

He said the Public Service Department has announced that from November 1 onwards, it is compulsory for all civil servants to receive the Covid-19 vaccination.

“Penang takes this seriously so this is now November and we will take disciplinary action against those who have not registered by now and still refused to be vaccinated,” he said in a press conference this morning.

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He said the only exception will be given to those with valid reasons for refusing the vaccination, such as medical concerns.

Currently, there are a total of 6,987 civil servants under the two city councils in the state, with 3,028 in the Penang Island City Council (MBPP) and 3,959 in the Seberang Perai City Council (MBSP).

Out of the total 6,987 civil servants, a total of 99.31 per cent have been fully vaccinated while 40 individuals or 0.57 per cent have not registered to be vaccinated or refused to be vaccinated.

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Jagdeep said out of the 40, 22 individuals are from MBPP and 18 are from MBPP.

He said Penang has been seeing a downward trend in the number of Covid-19 cases within the state.

The state recorded 276 cases yesterday and Jagdeep hopes that the figure will continue to drop until the state reaches zero cases.

“We have achieved zero Covid-19 cases in Penang before this and I am confident that we can do it again,” he said.

Meanwhile, on the influx of visitors to the state due to the Deepavali holiday, he said the state welcomes all visitors.

“However, we will continue to be strict with the SOPs so that we will continue to keep the number of cases low,” he said.

Earlier, Jagdeep handed out 500 Deepavali goodie bags worth a total of RM5,000 to patients and staff members of the Penang General Hospital.

He said medical frontliners at the Penang General Hospital have worked tirelessly for almost two years now and even during Deepavali tomorrow, many of them will still beon duty in the fight against Covid-19.

He thanked them for their contribution and called on everyone to continue to comply with the SOPs to bring down Covid-19 cases and relieve some of the burden on medical frontliners.