Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has emphasised that Malaysia cannot afford to implement another lockdown in its battle against the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. This is especially considering the economic and welfare consequences that will arise from the move.

In explaining himself, the minister drew some comparison between Malaysia’s Covid-19 strategy with those implemented by other countries, specifically China. He stressed that the nation cannot take a similar approach.

“There is no doubt that China’s approach [to enforce a lockdown] has been effective. However, their containment and ‘Zero Covid’ strategy also means a total lockdown [is enforced] when there are only three positive cases,” he commented via a Twitter post, where he also highlighted China’s latest lockdown of Yuzhou to contain the pandemic.

Tidak dinafikan pendekatan China berkesan. Namun strategi mereka iaitu ‘containment’ atau ‘zero COVID’ bermaksud total lockdown bila ada hanya tiga kes positif. Malaysia tidak mampu dari segi ekonomi & kebajikan rakyat untuk lockdown. Strategi kita ‘mitigation. https://t.co/jjGXovLIJz pic.twitter.com/Fz5pPx5huC

— Khairy Jamaluddin 🇲🇾🌺 (@Khairykj) January 9, 2022

Instead, Khairy said that Malaysia’s approach relies on the implementation of mitigation strategies. “This means we manage positive cases effectively, increasing vaccination, adhering to the standard operating procedures, TRIIS (test, report, inform, isolate, and seek) so death rates, intensive care unit usage, and hospital admissions reduce,” he further highlighted.

Aside from that, Khairy also expressed his full support for health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah in carrying out his duties and leading the country’s efforts in fighting the Covid-19 Omicron variant. This is following some queries regarding Dr Noor Hisham’s medical background, who specialises in surgery instead of public health.

(Sources: Malay Mail, New Straits Times)

• TAGS:
• China
• Covid-19
• Covid-19 Vaccination
• Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah
• Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing
• Khairy Jamaluddin