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PETALING JAYA: The Ministry of Health plans to fine-tune measures to control social, school and sports activities while continuing its efforts to stop the spread of Covid-19.
Health Director General Tan Sri Dr. Noor Hisham Abdullah said that while the conditional movement control order (MCO) has been effective in reducing infection rates in the third wave, the challenge is controlling social activities , as there have been cases of people breaking the rules.
“In the last few days, there have been cases where people have crossed state or district borders, for example from green to red zones. So we see the need to seek measures to further toughen the rules,” he said.
Dr Noor Hisham said that current OLS conditional measures have not failed, judging by the drop in the R0 value from 2.2 to 1.
He also said that tightening the rules on social activities could also facilitate the work of the Ministry of Health to conduct community screenings and other public health initiatives.
He also stressed the need for stricter border controls to prevent infections from neighboring countries, possibly brought in by illegal immigrants.
On the other hand, Dr. Noor Hisham said that a new law to control the sale of tobacco should be completed and presented soon in Parliament.
He said that without a new law, it would be difficult to control the sale of vaping liquids that contain nicotine.
Dr. Noor Hisham said this in response to a measure to impose a 10% excise tax on cigarettes and e-cigarette devices that was proposed in the Budget 2021 presentation.
“Vaping liquids are actually subject to the Poisons Act of 1952, so we would have to examine the law to make sure there are no contradictions in its regulation,” he said.
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