Ex-Minister questions wisdom of lifting quarantine

PETALING JAYA: A former Deputy Minister has questioned the wisdom of lifting the quarantine requirement for travellers from Sabah, saying it goes against the effort to reduce Covid-19 transmissions.

“The Sabah situation is far from under control,” said Dr Lee Boon Chye, who was Deputy Health Minister in the Pakatan Harapan government.

The 14-day mandatory quarantine rule for travellers from Sabah who test negative for Covid-19 was lifted on Wednesday. The Health Ministry said a risk assessment on the Covid-19 situation had suggested a downward trend in Sabah.

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Lee disagreed, saying there were still many active clusters in the State.

He noted that Sabah had, in the last few days, been recording cases running into three digits.

“To say that the Sabah situation is improving is wrong,” he told FMT.

Former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak also questioned the rationale behind the decision.

While noting that the number of new Covid-19 cases in Sabah had been going down since last week, he pointed out that the numbers for “other screening categories” remained high.

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“In my opinion, cases from such categories are the most dangerous because they are not related to any identified cluster and each case is capable of producing a new cluster,” he said.

But Najib said he hoped the Government had good reasons for its decision.

“I hope there is no political motive as there are still MPs in Sabah who may be barred from voting for the 2021 budget because of the quarantine period,” he said.

If that is true, I would rather have the voting day for the 2021 budget postponed.”

Dr Vikkineshwaran Siva Subramaniam, who heads Malaysian Medics International, said there was always a risk that someone testing negative on his arrival from Sabah could test positive later on.

“People who have travelled from high-risk spots have to practise self-quarantine,” he said. “We need to take responsibility for our health.

“Don’t always rely on higher powers to tell us what to do. 

If you believe you may be at risk to yourself or others, please do the right thing,” he said.