People under quarantine, Covid-positive still checking into premises, says Khairy

Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin says checks need to be tightened on the MySejahtera status of individuals at all premises, especially supermarkets, to ensure that those under home supervision order (HSO) do not enter.

He said his ministry had detected incidents of non-compliance with the HSO as there were still some who were found to be checking in at supermarkets despite being in the quarantine period.

“In Kedah, in just one week, there were 523 MySejahtera check-ins who were Covid-19 positive or high-risk individuals placed under home quarantine.

“A total of 18% of the (523) check-ins occurred in supermarkets, so we ask that supervision at entrances be tightened because they managed to check in, which means the security guards are not checking their MySejahtera properly… they are just letting them in,” he told a media conference in conjunction with his working visit to Kedah at Wisma Darul Aman yesterday.

Meanwhile, on Kedah’s Covid-19 vaccination status, Khairy said his ministry had asked for efforts to be intensified to ensure that about 17% more of adults in the state receive their vaccine jabs.

Khairy said attention should be given to residents in several districts which still record low vaccination rates such as Pendang and Baling.

“We need the cooperation of community leaders to ensure that those who still refuse to be vaccinated come forward, and we seek the enforcement of the SOPs for vaccination to be tightened… (for example) the mosque committee must check thoroughly (before allowing the congregants to enter),” he said.

He said his ministry had also asked all employers to tighten procedures at the workplace by allowing only fully vaccinated individuals to return to work.

Khairy added that for now, the supply of vaccines at every vaccination centre in Kedah was sufficient and, in fact, excessive.

“In a lot of areas, we have reached a stage where there are more vaccine doses than recipients… so we have to really outreach, go check on the hardcore (anti-vaccine) group… focus on this group,” he said.

Meanwhile, he said more than 180,000 teenagers in Kedah would begin receiving their vaccine shots from Monday at vaccination centres or schools. His ministry expects the process to be completed within a month.