Home quarantine for travellers from Sabah
KUALA LUMPUR: Individuals returning from Sabah must undergo mandatory home quarantine for 14 days beginning today as per the Health Ministry’s Home Surveillance Order (HSO) rules.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said they would be subjected to Covid19 health inspection and screening upon arrival at entry points in the peninsula and Sarawak from Sept 27 to Oct 10.
“As reported on Sept 25, 10 Covid-19 positive cases were detected among people returning from Sabah from Sept 20 to Sept 25. Today (yesterday), 11 more cases, among the returnees from Sabah, were detected in Peninsular Malaysia.
“The increase in cases and clusters in Sabah is ongoing and four districts have been identified as red zones. Therefore, from Sept 27 to Oct 10, all individuals who have just arrived from Sabah will be screened,” he said yesterday.
He said they were required to download and register with the MySejahtera application and check in using the application upon arrival at the point of entry.
Upon arrival at the gate, the returnees would undergo respiratory symptomatic screening and a Covid-19 detection screening test.
“They will have to undertake a HSO. All individuals at the entry points will be given a HSO letter and a quarantine bracelet.
“HSO will start from the date of arrival at the entry point until laboratory results are obtained. HSO release will be given if test results are negative,”
He said if there were those who needed to continue their journey to their homes by public transport, such as taxis, a letter of permission to go to the designated address would be given.
If returnees experienced respiratory tract infection symptoms within 14 days from the date of return, they should undergo another Covid-19 screening.
He said those arriving from Sabah would be exempted from the Covid-19 test charge fee.
On case updates, Dr Noor Hisham said no new cluster were detected yesterday. The number of cases in the country currently stood at 10,769.
He said from the 82 new cases, 79 were local transmissions and three were imported.
“The locally-transmitted cases involve 53 Malaysians and 26 foreigners, where 11 of them had returned from Sabah.
“Meanwhile, the three imported cases involve two Malaysians who returned from Yemen and Bangladesh and a foreigner from the Philippines.”
He said Sabah registered the highest number of daily cases in the past 24 hours.
“The Benteng LD cluster recorded 33 new cases (11
Malaysians and 22 foreigners in Tawau), raising the total number of positive cases in the cluster to 776 (of which 337 were foreigners involving 214 Filipinos, 122 Indonesians and one Timor Leste).
“The Bangau-Bangau cluster registered 25 cases (24 Malaysians and one foreigner), bringing the total positive cases to 159 (114 Malaysians and 35 Filipinos).
“Other cases in Sabah were detected during symptomatic screenings (three Malaysians), at the international entry point (a Malaysian who returned from the peninsula), anothe Clinicr Malaysian with influenza-like illness at the Tawau Health, and a foreigner who was admitted at Likas Women and Children Hospital.”
To date, 10,775 people linked to the Benteng LD cluster had been screened in Tawau, Lahad Datu, Kinabatangan and Sandakan.
Dr Noor Hisham said 89 Covid19 patients had recovered and were discharged today, raising the cumulative number of recovered cases to 9,785 (90.86 per cent).
He added eight Covid-19 cases were being treated at the intensive care units, with four on ventilator support.
No new deaths were reported yesterday and the number of Covid-19 fatalities remains at 133 (1.24 per cent).