Defence Minister: Those Returning From Sabah Don’t Need To Be Quarantined If They Test Negative

Flip-flop?

Initially, the Ministry of Health and National Security Council mandated that everyone returning to Peninsular Malaysia to Sabah will be required to undergo mandatory home quarantine for 14 days starting 27 September to 10 October.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said that they must also get swab-tested when they arrive at the entry points.

However, in an interview with The Star yesterday (27 September), Defence Minister, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said that those returning to Peninsular Malaysia from Sabah are NOT required to be quarantined for 14 days if they tested negative for Covid-19 in screening at airports starting from Sunday.

If you happen to arrive from Sabah, you will just be required to “quarantine” until you obtain your test results which will take usually a minimum of four hours. If your results come out negative, you will have to go to the nearest state health office and declare your health status and you will be free!

“It’s completely up to you if you would want to self-quarantine even after you test negative as a self-precaution. From our side, your test results will be sufficient. If you test positive, an ambulance will be waiting to pick you up.”

The minister reiterated that it’s completely up to the individual if they want to self-quarantine whether in a hotel or their own homes. This announcement by the government has received backlash from netizens saying that this move might just cause more clusters as an initial negative test is still uncertain.

The index patient from the Sivagangga cluster tested negatively as well at first and only tested positive after seven days but it was too late then as he violated home quarantine rules.

Is this really the safest move right now with the increasing number of cases? Let us know in the comments section!

 

Also read: 19 People Infected in Sivagangga Cluster After Shop Owner Violated Quarantine Order