GETTING yourself vaccinated is still one of the best strategies to protect yourself from Covid-19.
Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said only 1.9% of the Malaysian population has received the second booster dose, while 49.8% received the first booster dose.
“This is despite that Covid-19 vaccines are available for the people. Getting people to be vaccinated against Covid-19 is important.
“One of the best strategies is to first protect ourselves,” Chow replied to a question about the global situation of Covid-19.
He said the Penang Health Department briefed him this morning (Jan 6) about the preparation to face the arrival of tourists from China and other countries.
“The briefing included the current global situation of Covid-19.
“There are still Covid-19 cases occurring in many countries. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Malaysia is grouped under the countries in the West Pacific.
“Countries in the West Pacific that have recorded Covid-19 cases and are of interest to us are Japan, South Korea, and China.
“Of the three countries, Japan recorded the highest number of weekly Covid-19 cases (Dec 12 to 18 last year) with 1,046,650 cases, followed by South Korea (459,811 cases) and China (147,643 cases).
“As for the number of death cases, Japan recorded 1,617 cases, followed by China (418) and South Korea (326) during the same period.
“I was informed that Malaysia and Penang were experiencing a downward trend in terms of the number of Covid-19 cases.
“The Health Ministry assesses the current situation based on scientific data and statistics. I was told that the Health Ministry has also implemented five strategies to face the challenges ahead.
The five strategies are – to protect the community through vaccination; strengthen Covid-19 surveillance; screen travellers at international entry into Malaysia; advocate and risk communication; and advise travellers.
Chow said that Malaysia would not practise biases against any country.
Recently, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said that health is the main priority of the country.
He was quoted that immigration checkpoints into Malaysia would be tightened to screen arrivals from places with a high rate of infections.
Anwar said the action was not aimed at being discriminatory towards China but would also apply to countries with substantial infection rates.
Story by Christopher Tan
Pix by Adleena Rahayu Ahmad Radzi and Muhamad Amir Irsyad Omar
Video by Alissala Thian