PETALING JAYA: The Health Ministry has revived the Covid-19 National Rapid Response Task Force (RRTF) in the face of an expected resurgence of infections.
Minister Khairy Jamaluddin told a news conference yesterday the move was to ensure that the nation was prepared to face the onslaught of the new Omicron variant.
“The RRTF is a special committee that will implement preliminary action to manage transmissions in a state or area,” Khairy said.
The RRTF tasks include adding beds at hospitals, building field hospitals and referring patients to private hospitals.
It will be co-chaired by the deputy public health director-general and deputy medical director-general, who will report directly to the health minister.
The task force was originally known as the Greater Klang Valley Special Task Force.
It is a multi-discipline national response unit established to manage the fight to curb the spread of Covid-19 as Malaysia prepared to make the transition to endemicity.
While the emergence of Omicron has led to a rapid increase in the daily tally of new cases, especially in the last few days, the symptoms of those who have been infected are a lot less severe.
A total of 11,034 new infections were reported yesterday, the second day in a row that the tally has topped the 10,000 mark in several weeks.
However, the number of patients who need to be hospitalised or sent to intensive care is much lower.
Khairy said there were 68 deaths in Epidemiology Week 5, an 8.1% decline compared with the previous week.
In the same period, the number of cases in intensive care also declined between Jan 30 and Feb 5.
By then, there were only 91 cases, which was 17% down from Epidemiology Week 5.
Khairy said people aged 60 and above and those who initially received the Sinovac vaccine should get their booster shots before March 1.
Otherwise, their status as fully-vaccinated individuals will be withdrawn.
This will be reflected on their MySejahtera app.
“We urge individuals aged above 60 as well as Sinovac recipients to get their booster shots as soon as possible.
“Should they fail to do so by March 1, their digital vaccination certificates will turn from yellow to white, showing that they are no longer fully vaccinated.”
He added the Johor election can still proceed as planned.
“The government had recommended the standard operating procedures (SOP) to the National Security Council and Election Commission (EC). Our view is that the Omicron is not as bad as the Delta variant, hence the polls can be executed with the SOP that will be announced later ,” he added.
The EC is expected to announce the nomination date and polling date after its meeting tomorrow.