PETALING JAYA: Home quarantine eligibility for fully vaccinated travellers, including Malaysians returning from abroad, is subject to the discretion of the Health Ministry, says Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
To be eligible for home quarantine, he said a risk assessment would be done first.
“All returnees have to apply to the Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre (CPRC),” he said.
When asked if approval is subject to discretion of the CPRC, Dr Noor Hisham concurred as there is the fear of new variants such as Lambda.
“So, if it is low risk we can consider. This is very clear from Act 342 Section 15(1),” he said when contacted yesterday.
Dr Noor Hisham was referring to the part in the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act, which states that an authorised officer may order any contact to undergo observation in such place and for such period as he may think fit, or to undergo surveillance until he may be discharged without danger to the public.
On Aug 8, to ease Covid-19 restrictions for those who are fully vaccinated, former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced that fully vaccinated travellers from overseas entering Malaysia, including Malaysians returning from abroad, would be allowed to self-quarantine at home.However, a Malaysian couple who returned from the United States on Aug 24 after sending their daughter to university lamented about the entire process to be eligible for home quarantine.
The woman, who did not want to be identified, said she and her husband had applied to the Health Ministry for home quarantine since Aug 10 but did not get a response. She queried about the criteria for home quarantine, saying that she believed they were suited for it as they had space in their house with only their son at home.
“My house is large enough to accommodate physical distancing,” she said.
Furthermore, she said there was no child below 12 years old or adult above 60 staying with them who could be at risk.
The woman said their 14-day hotel quarantine would not be cheap, estimating that she would have to spend RM2,800 for it.
She also said that her entire family had been fully vaccinated and that all their Covid-19 tests were negative.
Under the National Recovery Plan standard operating procedure by the National Security Council that was updated on Aug 25, Malaysians and foreign nationals, including permanent residents and those in the Malaysia MY Second Home programme who have a residence in Malaysia, are allowed to undergo mandatory quarantine at home when they arrive from abroad and have been fully vaccinated.
They would be given the digital home surveillance and observation (HSO) orders subject to the risk assessment by the Health Ministry.
Returnees also have to provide RT-PCR test reports with negative results that was conducted three days before their departure.
They must have a valid Covid-19 complete vaccination dose certificate and they must not have any symptoms during the health screening at the country’s international gateways.
Also, they must have a suitable place of residence to undergo quarantine.