PETALING JAYA: The low-risk quarantine centre at Malaysia Agro Exposition Park (MAEPS) in Serdang, which closed its doors on Feb 8, will be reopened today as the number of Covid-19 cases continues to stay high, hitting 31,199 cases on Wednesday.

       Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the centre would reopen with 100 beds, explaining that it was a precautionary move to better manage the capacity of the country’s health facilities.

       At the height of the Delta wave, there were about 10,000 beds at the centre.

       “Our hospitals have started providing services and treatment for non-Covid-19 cases, especially elective cases that have been delayed for two years due to the pandemic.

       “With the reopening of MAEPS, the capacity of our hospitals can be managed better and we can continue treating non-Covid-19 cases without interruption,” Khairy told a press conference at his ministry yesterday.

       “Admission to MAEPS will be for low-risk cases and step-down care.”

       The National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) had said earlier in the day that the MAEPS centre would only cater to patients in the state, unlike earlier when it took all patients from the central region.

       “Operations will be on a much smaller scale unlike MAEPS 2.0, when we handled 160,000 Covid-19 patients,” it said in a statement.

       Nadma said there would also be changes in terms of building, functions and human resources.

       Sources familiar with the matter said the Selangor Health Department had also indicated its plans to reopen the quarantine centre in view of the rising number of cases.

       On Wednesday, the Kajang Municipal Council uploaded photos on its Facebook page involving preparations at MAEPS.

       The post stated that the council’s special action squad and other agencies were helping out with the preparations. Photos also showed beds lined up to accommodate patients.Before the centre was closed on Feb 8, it had treated 166,072 Covid-19 patients under Categories 1 to 4 over 14 months.

       Nadma director-general Datuk Dr Aminuddin Hassim was quoted as saying then that the centre was being closed as it was no longer economical to continue operations, taking into account operating costs and the declining number of patients.Wednesday’s 31,199 new Covid-19 was the highest daily count to date and brought the cumulative total to 3,305,157.

       Selangor reported 7,798 cases while Kuala Lumpur saw 2,186 cases.

       According to the CovidNow portal, the hospital bed utilisation rate in the Klang Valley had reached 65.2% with 607 new admissions.